%* 


V 


OLD-AGE    PENSIONS 


COMMITTEE  ON  OLD-AGE  PENSIONS, 


Mr.   George  Abbott,  P.H.C.S.,  D.S., 

A.O.F.,  Sheffield. 
Mr.    Thomas    Abbott,    High    Chief 

Ranger,  A.O.F. 
*Mr.  W.  M.  Acworth. 
The  Right  Hon.  Evelyn  Ashley. 
The    Right    Hon.    Lord    Avebury, 

F.R.S. 
*Mr.  J.  A.  Baines,  C.S.I. 
Mr.  G.  E.  Lloyd  Baker,  J. P. 
Mr.  J.  Blossom,  A.O.F.,  P.D.C.R. 
*Mr.  E.  Bond,  M.P. 
*Mr.  S.   Bostock,  Poor-law  Guardian, 

Winchester. 
*Mr.  W.  Bousfield,  J.P.,  Chairman,  Re- 
presentative Managers  of  London 

Board  Schools. 
*Mr.   A.    Sidney  Campkin,   I.O.O.F., 

M.U.,      Cambridge      Board       of 

Guardians. 
*Mr.  A.  K.  Connell. 
Mr.   George  Craighill,  Clerk  to  the 

Guardians,  Gateshead-on-Tyne. 
Mr.  C.  A.  Cripps,  K.C.,  M.P. 
Mr.  J.  Dodd,  P.D.C.R.,  A.O.F. 
Sir  John  Dorington,  Bart.,  M.P. 
Mr.  J.  A.  Doyle,  All  Souls'  College, 

Oxford. 
Mr.  I.  Edmondson,  P.G.M.  I.O.O.F., 

M.U. 
Mr.  C.  W.  Empson,  Chairman,  Pad- 

dington  Board  of  Guardians 
The  Right  Hon.  Lord  Farrer. 
*Sir  J.  G.  Fitch. 
Mr.  G.  A.  R.  Fitzgerald,  K.C. 
Mr.  H.  Flowers,  J.P.,  I.O.O.F.,  M.U. 
The    Hon.    Sir    C.    W.    Fremantle, 

K.C.B. 
Mr.  George  King,  Actuary,  London 

Assurance  Corporation. 
Mr.  Morton  Latham,  D.L.,  J.P. 
Mr.  W.  F.  Lawrence,  M.P. 


The  Right  Hon.  W.  E.  H.  Lecky. 

*  Members  of  Acting  Committee. 
15  Buckingham  Street,  Strand,  W.C. 
March  1903. 


*Mr.   C.    S.   Loch,   Secretary  to    the 
Council  of  the  Charity  Organisa- 
tion Society,  London. 
*Mr.   T.    Mackay,    author    of    'The 

English  Poor,'  and  other  works. 
*Mr.  John  Martineau,  J.P. 
*General     the     Right     Hon.     Lord 

Methuen,  G.C.B. 
*Capt.  Morrice,  Hungerfoid. 
*Mr.  F.  G.  P.  Neison,  F.S.S.,  F.I.A. 
Mr.  C.  N.  Nicholson,  late  Chairman. 

Shoreditch  Board  of  Guardians 
The  Right  Hon.  Lord  Northbourne 
The  Right  Hon.  the  Earl  of  North- 
brook,  G.C.S.I. 
Sir  Wyndham  S.  Portal,  Bart. 
*Mr.  A.  C.  Rawlings,  A.O.F. 
Mr.  Charles  S.  Roundell,  late  member 
of  the  Royal  Commission  on  the 
Aged  Poor. 
*Mr.    Sydney    Rowland,    Prov.    C.S. 
M.U.  Odd  Fellows. 
Mr.  John  Shelley,  A.O.F. 
The  Right  Hon.  Lord  Stalbridge. 
The  Right  Hon.  the  Earl  of  Stamford. 
*The  Right  Hon.  Lord  Thring,  K.C.B. 
*Mr.  Charles  Trask,Stoke-under-Ham. 
*Mr.  W.  Vallance,  late  Clerk  to  the 
Whitechapel  Board  of  Guardians. 
Mr.  A.  F.  Vulliamy,  Clerk,  Ipswich 

Board  of  Guardians. 
Mr.  W.  Warburton,  Rotherham. 
*Mr.  H.  G.  Willink,  Chairman,  Brad- 
field  Board  of  Guardians. 
*Mr.  H.  Wilson,  Farnborough,  Kent. 
*Mr.  H.  W.  Wolff,  author  of  'People's 

Banks.' 
*Mr.  W.  A.  Bailward,  late  Chair- 
man, Bethnal  Green  Board  of 
Guardians,  Hon.  Seceetaby  to 
the  Committee. 
*Sir  W.  Chance,  Bart.,  Hon.  Secretary 
Central  Poor-law  Conference,  Hon 
Treasurer  to  the  Committee. 


OLD-AGE  PENSIONS 


THE    CASE    AGAINST    OLD-AGE 
PENSION     SCHEMES 


a  Collection  of  Sbort  {papers 


ILon&on 

MA  CM  ILL  AN     AND     CO.,     Limited 

NEW  YORK:  THE  MACMTLLAN  COMPANY 

1903 


mmvw 


NTENTS. 


I. 

II. 
III. 
IV. 

V. 

VI. 

VII. 
VIII. 

IX. 


X. 
XI. 


XII. 
XIII. 


XII IA. 

XIV. 


XV 


XVI. 


Introduction 
Old-Age  Pensions 
Some  Considerations   . 
State-aided  Pensions   . 
Mistakes  and  Misstatements 


(  W.  A.  B.) 
.(C.  S.  L.) 
.(C.S.L.) 


Abstract  of  the  Report  of  Lord  Rothschild's  Committee,  1898 

(  W.  A.  B.) 

The  Endowment  of  Members  of  Friendly  Societies  (Sir  For- 
tescue  Flannery),  1899  ....        (W.  A.  B.) 

Reply  to  Mr.  Charles  Booth's  latest  Proposal       .        ( IF.  A.  B.) 

Criticism  of  the  Report  of  the  Select  Committee  of  the  House 
of  Commons,  1899  (Mr.  Chaplin's  Committee)      (  II'.  A.  B.) 

Summary  of  Report  of  the  Committee  appointed  to  consider 
the  Financial  Aspects  of  the  Proposals  of  the  Select  Com- 
mittee, 1900 (  W.  A.  B.) 

Minority  Report  by  the  Right  Hon.  W.  E.  H.  Lecky,  1900. 

Pensions  and  'the  Aged  deserving  Poor' — the  Difficulty  of 
Discrimination       ......        (W.  A.  B.) 

Report  upon  the  Question  of  Uld-Age  Pensions  by  the  Brad- 
field  Board  of  Guardians . 

Progress  of  the  Working  Classes — Extracts  from  Addresses 
delivered  by  Sir  R.  Giffen,  K.C.B.,  at  the  Royal  Statistical 
Society  ........... 

Pn.-l-cript  to  Sir  R.  Git/en's  Paper        .         .         .  (C.  8.  L.) 

The  English  Country  Labourer  and  the  Poor  Law  in  the  Reign 
of  Queen  Victoria  ....      (John  Martineau) 

Pensions  and  Voluntary  Effort  —A  Suggestion  and  an  Experi- 
ment     . (John  Martineau') 

Government  Audit  of  Friendly  Societies     .        (George  Abbott, 


PAGE 

1 

9 
13 
17 
24 

44 

58 
61 


90 

102 


118 

121 


130 
148 


150 


177 


Editor  of  the 

Fores 

;ers'  Miscellany  '). 

187 

XVII. 

Old -Age 

Pensions 

in  Germany     . 

.(C.S.Z.) 

191 

XVII  I. 

„ 

„ 

(iermany     . 

.  (II.  W.  Wolff) 

199 

XIX. 

,, 

„ 

Denmark     . 

.         .(C.S.L.) 

211 

XX. 

i) 

,, 

Belgium 

.         .(C.S.L.) 

215 

XXI. 

,, 

„ 

Australasia 

.         .(0.8.  L.) 

222 

XXII. 

,. 

,, 

New  Zealand 

(II 

.  Steadman  Aldis) 

232 

XXIII. 

>> 

H 

New  Zealand 

(W.A.B.) 

210 

- 


k 

INTEODUCTION 


J  Moke  than  two  years  ago  a  small  Committee  was  formed  of 

a  persons    interested    in    the   controversy    respecting   Old-Age 

-  Pensions.      Some   had  a  large  personal  and  practical  expe- 

§  rience  of  the  administration  of  friendly  societies,  others  of 

§  Poor-law  relief,  others  of  charity.     The  need  of  the  moment, 

it  appeared  to   them,  was  not    general   discussion,    but   the 

examination  of  legislative  proposals,  the  scrutiny  of  popular 

arguments,  and  the  publication  of  the  results    of  legislative 

experiments  in  other  countries. 

The  short  papers  published  in  this  little  book  are  the  fruits 

of  the  Committee's  work.     Many  of  them  have  been  widely 

circulated.     Some  were  written  in  1899,  some  within  the  last 

few  months.     Since  1899  there  has  been  little  alteration  in 

j1  the  Bills  on  the  subject  prepared  for  submission  to  Parliament. 

S  Indeed,  though  scheme  has  followed  scheme  with  ever  new 

t  modifications  and  amendments,  if  one  may  judge  from    the 

..  apparent  cessation  in  productivity,  it  would  seem  as  if  the 

~  general  stock  of  ingenuity  were  now  exhausted  and  the  wit  of 

the  inventor  could  no  further  go.      There  is  thus  the  more 

reason  for  bringing  the  controversy  to  a  head,  if  possible,  and 

it  is  hoped  that  the  following  papers  may  serve  that  purpose. 

Of  the  papers,  Nos.  1  to  3  deal  with  groups  of  schemes, 

schemes  for  universal  pensions  or  for  partial  pensions,  to  be 

granted  subject  to  a  thrift  test  or  membership  of  a  Friendly 

Society  or  in  connection  with  an  extended  Poor  Law  ;  and 

a  (No.  4)  with  some  of  the  chief  mistakes  and  mis-statements 

'  frequently  repeated  in  the  general  discussion  of  the  subject. 

Papers    Nos.    5    to    12    contain   criticisms   of    particular 

schemes  or  Bills. 

No.  5  is  an  abstract  of  the  Keport  of  Lord  Bothschild's 

B 


383302 


2  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

Committee.  It  is  followed  (No.  6)  by  a  criticism  of  Sir 
Fortescue  Flannery's  Bill,  and  (No.  7)  of  Mr.  Charles  Booth's 
latest  proposals. 

Papers  follow  on  the  report  of  Mr.  Chaplin's  Committee 
on  the  Aged  and  Deserving  Poor  ;  the  -report  of  the  Depart- 
mental Committee  appointed  to  consider  the  financial  aspects 
of  Mr.  Chaplin's  proposals.  Mr.  Lecky's  minority  report, 
written  as  a  member  of  Mr."  Chaplin's  Committee,  comes 
next ;  and  then  a  note  on  a  recent  circular  of  the  Local  Govern- 
ment Board  on  '  adequate  relief '  and  the  aged  deserving  poor. 
The  reply  of  the  Bradfield  Board  of  Guardians  to  the  Secretary 
of  the  Parliamentary  Committee  on  Old-Age  Pensions  com- 
pletes the  group. 

Two  papers  follow  on  the  present  and  past  economic 
condition  of  the  people — one  consisting  of  extracts  from 
papers  read  by  Sir  Eobert  Giffen  at  the  Royal  Statistical 
Society  (No.  13), x  and  one  by  Mr.  John  Martineau,  entitled 
'  The  English  Country  Labourer  and  the  Poor  Law  during 
the  Reign  of  Queen  Victoria.' 

No.  15  is  a  paper  on  '  Pensions  and  Voluntary  Effort,' 
describing  a  recent  experiment  in  aid  of  a  Friendly  Society 
Lodge ;  and  No.  16  a  paper  by  Mr.  George  Abbott,  on  '  The 
Government  Audit  of  Friendly  Societies  in  relation  to  the 
question  of  Old-Age  Pensions.' 

Other  papers  (Nos.  17,  18,  19,  20,  and  21)  deal  with  Old 
Age  Pensions  in  Germany,  Denmark,  Belgium,  and  in  New 
Zealand,  Victoria,  and  New  South  Wales.  Two  further 
papers  on  Old-Age  Pensions  in  New  Zealand  close  the  series. 
For  each  signed  or  initialed  paper  the  individual  writers 
must  be  held  responsible. 

To  supplement  these  papers  a  few  words  are  here  added  in 
regard  to  the  character  of  some  of  the  arguments  popularly 
used  in  support  of  Old-Age  Pensions,  and  in  regard  to  some 
details  and  some  schemes  not  included  in  the  papers. 

1  A  paper  containing  more  recent  data  as  to  the  progress  of  the  working 
classes  is  also  included  (No.  13a). 


INTRODUCTION  3 

The  popular  discussion  on  Old- Age  Pensions  does  not  turn 
upon  the  results  of  administrative  experience  or  any  clearly 
conceived  social  theory.  The  most  popular  scheme  is  natu- 
rally that  of  universal  pensions.  Trade  Unionists  and 
Co-operators  have  combined  to  pass  resolutions  in  favour  of 
it ;  and  in  its  discussion  two  typical  arguments  carry  weight 
and  often  prove  effective. 

The  country  is  one,  it  is  said,  industrially  and  socially. 
Every  workman,  therefore,  by  the  mere  fact  that  he  has  to 
work  in  order  to  get  a  living  imposes  an  obligation  on  the 
community  to  help  him.  He  serves  the  community  while  he 
is  serving  a  private  employer.  His  claim  is  therefore  finan- 
cial and  public.  It  does  not  fall  either  on  himself  or  his 
family  or  his  employer  or  his  friends  to  provide  for  his  old 
age,  but  on  the  community.  When  he  came  into  the  world 
the  community  expended  its  resources  upon  him.  He  had  to 
be  bred  up  and  taught.  He  started  thus  a  debtor  to  the 
community.  This  debt  he  has  cancelled  by  his  work,  and  at 
the  end  of  his  life  the  community  is  under  an  obligation  or 
debt  to  him.  It,  not  he,  is  then  the  debtor ;  and  accordingly 
a  pension  in  old  age  is  a  right  to  which  every  one  is  entitled. 
It  is  the  payment  of  the  debt  of  the  community  to  its 
members. 

This  argument,  insufficient,  almost  fanciful,  as  it  is  from 
the  point  of  view  of  social  obligation,  or  considered  in  the 
light  of  experience  and  practical  administration,  is  a  fair 
illustration  of  one  kind  of  opinion  which  is  giving  force  and 
colour  to  the  agitation  for  Old -Age  Pensions. 

If,  in  reference  to  this  argument,  the  question  be  asked 
whether  the  man  who  has  not  worked,  though  he  has  been 
able  to  do  so,  should  receive  a  pension,  the  answer  is  fre- 
quently in  the  affirmative,  though  some  reply  that  he  should 
be  maintained  and  severely  punished — a  task  that  in  practice 
would  exceed  the  discriminating  power  and  judicial  energy  of 
the  State.  And  this  most  obvious  criticism  of  plain  common- 
sense  is  evaded   by  the  plea   that  the  pension  is  to  be  'a 

B2 


4  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

civil   right '    to  be   claimed   by  every  citizen  on  reaching  a 
given  age. 

The  other  argument  is  as  popular  and  more  '  telling.' 
Directly  or  indirectly  it  has  probably  influenced  every 
advocate  of  Old-Age  Pensions,  and  it  has  been  the  fruitful 
mother  of  schemes.      It  is  put  thus  :  ' — 

The  pauperism  on  population  at  all  ages  is  2*2  per  cent. 
But  after  the  age  of  60  it  is  13-3  ;  and  as  age  increases  the 
rate  of  pauperism  on  the  dwindling  numbers  of  ageing 
survivors  increases  rapidly. 

Between  60  and  65  it  is    5*3  per  cent. 
65  and  70  it  is  10'8      „ 
„        70  and  75  it  is  18*5      „ 

What,  it  is  urged,  could  be  worse  than  this  or  more  con- 
vincing ?  If  so  many  people  become  dependent  in  old  age,  a 
pension  scheme  is  absolutely  necessary  ;  and  the  fallacy  of  the 
argument  at  the  moment  escapes  detection. 

The  earlier  period  is  that  of  normal  health  and  strength, 
the  later  that  of  declining  powers  and  faculties.  Considered 
in  this  light  the  figures  can  hardly  be  counted  unsatisfactory. 
That  in  the  small  and  declining  population  of  aged  persons 
between  65  and  70  some  89  per  cent,  should  be  able  to 
support  themselves  or  be  maintained  without  coming  on  the 
rates,  and  between  70  and  75  some  82  per  cent.,  is  rather  a 
cause  of  congratulation  than  of  despair.  Because  10  or  18 
per  cent,  of  these  old  people  are  paupers  is  no  reason  for 
making  the  remainder  State  '  dependents.' 

But  while  such  arguments  as  these  are  widely  circulated, 
and  schemes  of  Old-Age  Pensions  are  so  frequently  discussed 
and  in  some  countries  set  on  foot,  it  is  hardly  surprising  that 
the  attention  of  the  people  should  be  diverted  from  the  considera- 
tion of  the  methods  by  which  they  might  themselves  create  the 

1  In  Appendix  B,  Tlie  Aged  Poor  in  England  and  Wales,  by  Charles 
Booth.  (Macmillan  &  Co.,  1894.)  The  above  figures  are  percentages  of  paupers 
of  the  several  ages  (Burt's  Return,  August  1,  1890),  taken  on  the  population 
of  those  ages  according  to  the  Census  of  1891. 


INTRODUCTION  5 

funds  required  to  provide  for  old  age.  What  might  be  done  is 
shown,  for  instance,  by  the  Sheffield  and  Hallanishire  District 
of  the  Ancient  Order  of  Foresters.  That  District  has  under- 
taken to  provide  an  Old-Age  Pension  Fund  for  its  own 
members.  At  the  commencement  of  1901,  428  members  were 
contributing  to  the  fund  ;  at  the  close  of  it  there  were  468. 
'  Several  Courts  having  valuation  surpluses  have  seen  the 
desirability  of  converting  their  Courts  into  Pension  Courts, 
and  nineteen  of  these  have  voluntarily  required  all  future 
entrants  to  subscribe  for  "  Old- Age  Pensions  "  as  a  condition 
of  membership.  There  are  now  637  members  in  Sheffield 
assured  for  Old-Age  Pensions.' 

Some  Districts  of  the  Manchester  Unity  of  Oddfellows 
are  now  also  reconsidering  the  question,  with  a  view  to 
adopting  a  pension  system  supported  in  part  by  the  utilisa- 
tion of  balances  available  for  sick  pay  at  sixty-five,  and  in 
part  by  the  enforcement  of  special  contributions. 

In  the  past  the  friendly  societies  have  solved  the  problem 
of  making  provision  against  sickness  little  by  little.  Lodge 
has  imitated  Lodge,  and  Court  Court.  With  the  considera- 
tion of  better  methods,  and  the  gradual  recognition  of  new 
demands  and  new  conditions  of  administration,  changes  have 
thus  been  wrought  from  point  to  point  throughout  the 
country.  And  now  if  the  Societies  are  to  be  allowed  to  solve 
the  further  problem  of  Old-Age  Pensions  they  can  do  it  only 
in  the  same  manner — by  local  action  and  association.  Beside 
large  and  sweeping  legislative  measures  this  seems  to  be  a 
slow  and  insignificant  method,  but  the  progress  made  in 
accordance  with  it  in  the  course  of  a  series  of  years  very 
greatly  exceeds  that  produced  by  direct  and  universal  legis- 
lative intervention.  For  that  progress  does  not  affect  financial 
considerations  merely  ;  it  is  sure  and  steady  also,  alike  from 
the  point  of  view  of  administration  and  from  that  of  social 
habit  and  economic  well-being. 

It  must  not,  however,  be  forgotten  that  there  are  in 
existence  at  the  present  moment  many  forms  of  pensions  for 


6  OLD-AGE  PENSIONS 

old  age,  in  addition  to  those  provided  for  by  the  Friendly 
Societies.  The  largest  and  most  important  pension  fund 
consists  in  the  support  received  from  children  and  other 
relations  ;  and  the  magnitude  of  this  fund  can  probably  only 
be  fully  appreciated  by  those  who  have  been  actively  engaged 
in  Poor-law  and  charitable  work.  But  that  is  not  all. 
Many  of  the  more  important  trades  unions  have  their  super- 
annuation funds,  and,  though  there  is  a  tendency  at  the  present 
moment  to  allocate  these  funds  rather  to  trade  disputes  than 
to  sick  and  old  age  benefits,  yet  they  still  remain  an 
important  factor  in  the  consideration  of  the  question.  Again, 
there  is  a  steady  increase  of  superannuation  funds  in  connec- 
tion with  the  great  industrial  organisations,  such  as  the 
principal  railways,  gas,  telegraph,  and  telephone  companies, 
and  innumerable  industrial  undertakings  both  great  and 
small.  At  the  present  time,  by  the  joint  action  of  employers 
and  employees,  over  50,000  railway  servants  have  pensions 
secured  to  them  ;  and  the  principle  is  spreading  rapidly. 
The  age  for  the  receipt  of  pensions  on  these  funds  varies  from 
fifty- five  to  sixty-five.  Almost  every  firm  of  any  standing 
has  its  pensioners ;  and  it  is  the  same  with  private  employers. 
Upon  one  great  estate,  within  the  cognisance  of  the  writer, 
the  pension  fund  amounts  to  £10,000  a  year,  and  it  is  hardly 
too  much  to  say  that  upon  every  estate  or  farm  of  any  size  in 
the  country  there  are  old  servants  kept  on,  either  as  pen- 
sioners, or  by  a  form  of  quasi  pension  which,  as  Mr.  Charles 
Booth  says,  is  met  by  the  '  provision  of  suitable  light  work  at 
wages  which  are  based  upon  the  needs  of  the  recipient  rather 
than  upon  the  value  of  the  services  received.'  We  may  ask 
ourselves  what  will  be  the  effect  of  any  system  of  State 
pensions  upon  these  various  sources  of  support  in  old  age  ? 
Will  any  one  tax  himself  voluntarily  to  do  that  for  which  he 
is  already  taxed  by  the  State  ?  Mr.  Charles  Booth  admits 
that  children  will  no  longer  help  their  parents  to  the  extent 
which  they  have  hitherto  done. 

It  is  an  undoubted  fact  that  in  many  of  the  superannua- 


INTRODUCTION  7 

tion  schemes  of  great  industrial  concerns  there  are  clauses 
providing  that,  in  the  event  of  the  passing  of  a  State  Pension 
Bill,  the  money  contributed  by  the  employer  should  revert  to 
the  donor.  It  is  clear  that,  quite  apart  from  all  question  of 
what  the  friendly  societies  are  doing  or  may  be  able  to  do, 
there  must  be  a  violent  disturbance  of  a  vast  existing  system 
of  superannuation  which  is  the  outcome  of  voluntary  arrange- 
ment, and  a  final  check  to  a  spontaneous  movement  which 
is  increasing  in  importance  every  day. 

It  is  well,  then,  to  see  the  results  of  the  experiments 
already  made,  so  far  as  they  can  be  tested. 

These  results — primary  rather  than  ultimate  results — 
appear  in  the  group  of  short  papers  on  the  German  system  of 
'insurance,'  on  the  Danish,  the  Belgian,  and  the  New  Zealand 
systems.  They  speak  for  themselves.  They  tell  a  tale  of 
increasing  and  extending  pauperism  or  dependence,  and  they 
stand  in  conspicuous  contrast  to  the  results  of  a  recent  in- 
vestigation to  which  but  little  public  attention  has  been  paid, 
though  it  shows  to  how  vast  an  extent  the  forces  and  affections 
which  lie  within  society  meet  the  needs  of  its  members  in 
their  old  age. 

By  this  investigation  it  has  been  ascertained,  so  far  as  the 
facts  can  be  learned  by  direct  inquiry  without  verification, 
that  in  this  country  among  5,980  persons  in  different  towns 
and  parts  of  the  country  over  60  years  of  age,  none  of  whom 
were  in  receipt  of  Poor-law  relief,  and  all  of  whom  were 
stated  to  have  an  income  of  not  more  than  10s.  a  week, 
55-62  per  cent,  were  assisted  by  their  children,  relations,  and 
friends,  and  37*1  per  cent,  by  employers.1 

1  The  other  figures  of  this  return  are : — 

Per  Cent. 

Benefit  of  Trade  Society .6-7 

Other  sources  of  income  or  maintenance       .         .        .     7'6 

Means — e.g.  investment  ......  10*9 

Source  of  income  not  stated 1*2 

— Report  of  Departmental  Committee  on  Financial  Aspects   of  Proposals  of 

Select  Committee  of  House  of  Commons  (1899)  on  the  Aged  Deserving  Poor, 

p.  31. 


8  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

The  quiet  unostentatious  personal  charities  of  children  to 
their  parents,  which  at  present  act  in  England  like  a  natural 
force  in  society,  supplying  the  parents'  needs  and  keeping 
them  from  pauperism  or  dependence  on  strangers,  would  be 
as  rudely  upset  and  destroyed  in  England  as  they  have  been 
elsewhere,  if  a  general  scheme  for  Old-Age  Pensions  were 
introduced. 

In  the  light  of  these  statements— the  vague  demand  for 
Old-Age  Pensions,  prompted  largely  by  the  imitative  instinct 
in  social  life,  which  would  hurry  the  people  into  creating  a 
pension  scheme  before  the  ultimate  results  of  the  present 
schemes  are  clearly  ascertained  ;  the  ill-success,  or  at  least 
the  extremely  doubtful  success,  of  the  experiments  that  have 
been  made  in  other  countries  and  in  the  Colonies,  so  far  as 
these  experiments  can  yet  be  tested  ;  the  breach  in  family 
relations  and  responsibilities  which,  as  experience  shows, 
any  general  scheme  will  produce — the  Committee  would  urge 
those  who  are  interested  in  a  subject  surrounded  by  so  many 
difficulties  to  consider  it  once  again,  anew  and  impartially. 

It  is  at  least  in  that  hope  and  with  that  object  that  the 
Committee  have  issued  the  papers  published  in  this  little 
book. 

December  1902. 


OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

The  schemes  at  present  proposed  are  twofold— viz.  schemes 
for  universal  pensions,  such  as  that  of  Mr.  Charles  Booth, 
and  schemes  for  limited  or  partial  pensions,  such  as  those  of 
Sir  J.  Rankin  and  others. 

The  definition  of  the  word  pension  is  of  some  importance. 
In  some  schemes  a  pension  is  taken  to  mean  an  allow- 
ance dependent  solely  upon  the  attainment  of  a  specific  age 
independent  of  whether  the  recipient  was  then  '  sick  or  well, 
in  employment  or  out  of  it.'  In  others  the  term  is  used  in 
respect  only  of  a  combination  of  age  and  infirmity,  and  thus 
any  person  earning  ordinary  wages  is  excluded. 

The  Committee  have  carefully  considered  the  various 
schemes  which  are  now  before  the  public,  and  find  the  follow- 
ing objections  to  them  : — 

UNIVEESAL  PENSIONS. 
OBJECTIONS    FKOM    THE    GENERAL    POINT    OF    VIEW. 

(a)  That  the  cost  would  be  an  insuperable  difficulty,  for 
to  grant  5s.  a  week  at  age  65  in  respect  of  the  population  of 
England  and  Wales  only  would  involve  about  £20,000,000  per 
annum  for  the  present  recipients,  and  by  1941  the  figure 
would  have  risen  to  £36,000,000.' 

(b)  That  State  pensions  would  prejudice  thrift,  as-  remov- 
ing one  of  the  strongest  incentives  for  it,  and  further  would 
have  a  disastrous  effect  upon  the  present  efforts  of  friendly 

1  If  figures  for  Scotland  and  Ireland  were  included,  the  sum  would  be  very 
considerably  in  excess  of  these  amounts. 


10  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

societies,  trades  unions,  and  large  employers  of  labour,  such 
as  railway  companies  and  colliery  companies,  to  deal  success- 
fully with  this  question. 

(c)  That  State  Pensions  will  act  in  supplementation  of 
wages,  and  eventually  will  benefit  chiefly  the  employers. 
Those  in  receipt  of  a  pension,  if  still  allowed  to  work,  would 
be  able  to  undercut  free  labour. 

(d)  That  there  is  no  finality  about  the  age  limit  of  sixty- 
five.  Agitation  would  ensue  for  a  reduction  of  the  age  to 
sixty.  Were  the  age  thus  reduced,  the  cost  of  providing  the 
pensions  would  be  just  doubled.  The  limitation  of  the  sum  of  the 
pension  to  only  5s.  a  week  would  become  a  burning  question. 

(e)  That  they  would  have  a  most  prejudicial  effect  upon 
the  administration  of  sickness  relief  in  friendly  societies.  At 
present  the  control  of  sickness  benefit  after  age  sixty-five  is 
most  complex,  from  the  difficulty  of  restricting  the  allowance 
to  '  sickness  '  as  apart  from  the  diminished  vitality  due  to 
advancing  years,  but  if  pensions  were  universal,  the  diffi- 
culties of  supervision  would  be  greatly  augmented. 

(/)  That  there  is  no  sufficient  means  of  preventing  fraud, 
personation,  and  anticipation  of  income.  Frauds  are  con- 
stantly taking  place  with  regard  to  army  pensions,  both  in 
England  and  in  the  United  States. 

(g)  That  a  pensioner  may  dissipate  his  income  on  the 
day  on  which  it  is  paid.  Old-Age  Pensions  would  not, 
therefore,  do  away  with  the  necessity  for  workhouses. 
There  are  many  army  pensioners  in  workhouses  at  the 
present  moment.  Neither  would  any  scheme  of  pensions 
benefit  those  who  are  too  old  or  infirm  to  live  alone. 


PARTIAL  OR  LIMITED  PENSION  SCHEMES,  THROUGH 
FRIENDLY  SOCIETIES  OR  OTHERWISE  WITH  A 
GOVERNMENT   SUBSIDY. 

I.    OBJECTIONS    FROM    THE    GENERAL    POINT    OF    VIEW. 

(a)  That  practically  none  of  these  schemes  deal  with  the 
class  whose  position  is  the  main  cause  of  the  demand  for 


OLD-AGE   PENSIONS  11 

old-age  pensions.  (In  particular  women  would  hardly  benefit.) 
That  it  is  doubtful  policy  to  put  a  bounty  on  provision  for 
pensions  by  means  of  a  Government  subsidy,  since  to  do  so 
may  divert  the  working  classes  from  other  forms  of  providing 
for  the  future  which  may  be  of  greater  importance  to  them. 

(b)  That  it  is  inexpedient  that  there  should  be  preferential 
treatment  of  members  of  friendly  societies  over  persons  who 
put  their  savings  into  co-operative  or  building  societies, 
savings  banks,  &c. 

(c)  That  as  some  of  the  schemes  contemplate  a  certain 
maximum  of  saving  as  the  title  to  a  pension,  they  would  to 
that  extent  be  a  check  upon  thrift. 

(d)  That  in  schemes  in  which  a  maximum  or  minimum  of 
income  is  specified,  the  possibilities  of  fraud  would  be  all  the 
greater,  inasmuch  as  the  difficulty  of  ascertaining  income 
exactly  is  insuperable. 

2.    OBJECTIONS    FKOM    THE    FKIENDLY    SOCIETY    POINT    OF    VIEW. 

(a)  That  a  Government  subsidy  in  respect  of  a  pension  to 
members  of  friendly  societies  could  not  be  granted  without 
the  State  requiring  such  a  control  of  their  administration  to 
maintain  the  basis  of  solvency  as  would  practically  render  it 
necessary  for  the  State  to  become  the  predominant  partner. 
This  would  be  fatal  to  the  independence  of  these  organisations. 

(/>)  That  for  friendly  societies  to  undertake  the  pension 
in  respect  of  a  subsidy  from  the  Government  would  necessitate 
a  compulsory  commutation  of  all  their  existing  sickness 
benefits  after  the  pension  age,  a  course  altogether  indefensible. 


OBJECTIONS  FROM  THE  POOR-LAW  POINT  OF  VIEW. 

(a)  That  State  Pensions  constitute  a  total  change  in  the 
policy  of  the  Poor  Law,  and  involve  an  enormous  system  of 
outdoor  relief.     The  workhouse  test,  which  has  hitherto  been 


12  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

regarded  as  the  necessary  condition  of  Poor-law  administration, 
would  be  abolished,  so  far  as  those  of  the  specified  age  are 
concerned. 

(b)  That  State  Pensions  would  to  a  great  extent  cause 
relations,  friends,  old  employers,  and  others  who  have 
natural  obligations  towards  pensioners,  to  discontinue  their 
assistance. 

(c)  That  a  pension  system  would  constitute  a  definite 
abandonment  of  the  hope  that  any  large  proportion  of  the 
poor  will  ever  be  able  to  provide  for  their  old  age  by  the 
improvement  of  wages  and  an  increase  in  their  sense  of 
responsibility. 


THE  QUESTION  ALREADY  CONSIDERED  BY  A  ROYAL 
COMMISSION  AND  A  SPECIAL  COMMITTEE. 

A  Eoyal  Commission  and  a  Special  Committee  composed 
of  experts  have  recently  considered  a  number  of  schemes  for 
providing  pensions,  and  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that 
they  could  not  recommend  any  of  them  for  adoption. 


IB 


II 
SOME   CONSIDERATIONS 

Whatever  view  may  be  taken  as  to  the  desirability  or 
otherwise  of  Old-Age  Pensions,  it  cannot  be  disputed  that  they 
involve  a  very  large  measure  of  poor  relief ;  that,  in  fact,  as 
has  already  been  suggested,  a  measure  for  the  relief  of  the 
poor,  '  whether  it  is  called  the  Poor  Law  of  Elizabeth  or  the 
Poor  Law  of  Victoria,'  is  nothing  more  nor  less  than  a  Poor 
Law. 

The  schemes  at  present  advocated  may  be  classified  under 
two  headings  :  universal  and  partial  pension  schemes. 

Schemes  for  Universal  Pensions. 

A  s  to  the  universal  schemes  :  the  first  point  to  be  noticed 
is  that,  whether  for  good  or  for  evil,  they  involve  a  total 
change  of  front  as  to  the  policy  of  public  relief.  The  nearly 
accomplished  ruin  of  the  country  under  the  old  Poor  Law 
was  averted  by  the  new  Poor  Law  of  1834.  The  Eoyal 
Commission  which  was  responsible  for  the  new  Poor  Law 
pointed  out  that  the  root  of  the  evil  lay  in  the  effect  that 
State  aid  had  had  upon  the  character  of  the  people,  and  they 
laid  it  down  that  the  only  safe  limit  of  State  aid  was  the 
relief  of  destitution,  that  all  attempts  by  the  State  to  relieve 
poverty  by  supplementing  inadequate  incomes  must  fail, 
and  that  the  only  hope  for  the  future  was  to  be  looked  for 
from  the  improvement   of   earning  power  in  the  labouring 


14  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

classes  and  their  own  greater  love  of  independence  and  sense 
of  responsibility. 

This  opinion  has  had  the  concurrence  of  all  the  best 
thinkers  upon  the  subject  since  the  date  of  the  Commission, 
and  of  all  the  most  intelligent  administrators  of  the  Poor 
Law. 

It  can  hardly  be  denied  that  there  has  been  an  enormous 
improvement  in  the  condition  of  the  labouring  classes  since 
1834,  and  that  that  improvement  is  still  continuing.  Wages 
have  increased,  and  are  increasing,  whilst  the  cost  of  living  has 
greatly  decreased.  Deposits  in  savings  banks  have  gone  up 
by  leaps  and  bounds.  The  position  of  friendly  societies  has 
been  greatly  strengthened,  and  is  daily  growing  stronger. 
All  this  has  taken  place  since  Poor-law  relief  was  restricted. 

Now  it  is  proposed  to  reverse  the  existing  policy.  Public 
relief,  by  whatever  name  it  is  called,  is  no  longer  to  be  con- 
fined to  the  relief  of  destitution,  but  is  to  be  applied  to 
supplement  incomes,  adequate  and  inadequate  alike. 

It  is  submitted  that  the  onus  rests  with  those  who  pro- 
pose these  schemes  to  point  to  any  wholesale  system  of  State 
relief,  either  in  the  past  or  the  present,  which  has  had  other 
than  a  disastrous  effect  upon  those  to  whom  it  has  been 
applied. 

To  the  leaders  of  the  democracy  it  is  especially  put  whether 
it  is  in  the  true  interests  of  democracy  to  identify  it  with  any 
form  of  dependence. 

Prior  to  1834  it  was  argued  that  no  working  man  could 
provide  for  himself  and  his  family  out  of  his  wages.  So  long 
as  his  wages  were  supplemented  out  of  the  rates,  he  could  not 
and  did  not  do  so.  Now  it  is  argued  that  he  cannot  provide 
for  his  old  age.  The  fact  that  outdoor  relief  is  freely  given, 
and  freely  accepted,  over  a  great  part  of  the  country  is  used  as 
an  argument  in  favour  of  the  necessity  of  Old-Age  Pensions. 
To  this  it  may  be  replied  that  the  acceptance  of  outdoor 
relief  is  no  test  of  destitution,  and  that  in  Poor-law  Unions 
where  outdoor  relief  is  restricted  the  great  majority  of  the 


SOME    CONSIDERATIONS  15 

labouring  classes  do  provide  for  their  old  age,  either  by  their 
own  exertions  or  by  the  help  of  their  children. 

The  policy  of  the  existing  Poor  Law  has  always  been  to 
strengthen  family  ties  and  the  obligations  of  relations  to  one 
another.  Under  the  old  Poor  Law  the  contrary  was  the  case. 
It  is  almost  impossible  to  estimate  at  its  full  value  the  import- 
ance of  this  feeling,  which  has  been  successfully  encouraged 
under  the  present  Poor  Law.  The  Old-Age  Pension  fund 
which  consists  in  the  fulfilment  of  family  obligations  is  of 
immeasurable  value  to  the  poor.  It  is  freely  given  and 
freely  accepted,  with  a  minimum  sense  of  dependence.  It 
implies  a  great  deal  more  than  the  actual  monetary  assist- 
ance. And  yet  it  is  not  difficult,  as  was  shown  under  the  old 
Poor  Law,  to  destroy  this  feeling  altogether.  Anyone  who 
has  had  to  do  with  outdoor  relief  or  charitable  relief  knows 
that  the  grant  of  relief  from  any  outside  source  is  often  the 
signal  for  the  relation  or  friend  to  discontinue  his  assistance. 

Those  who  advocate  Old- Age  Pensions  from  the  State 
should  carefully  consider  this  aspect  of  the  question,  and 
whether,  in  fact,  they  are  not  doing  a  great  injury  to  the  poor 
by  the  dislocation  of  natural  ties. 

But  apart  from  this,  the  facilities  for  providing  against  old 
age  are  increasing  daily.  Friendly  societies,  trade  unions, 
great  trading  corporations  such  as  the  railway  companies,  are 
all  working  out  the  problem.  It  is  submitted  that  this  is  at 
least  an  inopportune  moment  to  run  any  risk  of  arresting 
the  efforts  that  working  men  are  making  in  the  direction  of 
self-dependence.  A  step  towards  old-age  pensions  once  made 
is  irretrievable.  If  we  once  accept  the  position  that  old-age 
dependence  is  inevitable,  we  make  it  inevitable.  It  is  clear, 
if  we  do  so,  we  do  it  at  a  time  when  more  people  than  ever 
before  do  actually  provide  for  old  age. 

The  next  point  to  be  observed  is  that  Old-Age  Pensions,  like 
every  other  form  of  relief,  must  act  in  supplementation  of 
wages.  It  is  impossible  to  divide  the  life  of  any  human  being 
into  watertight  compartments  of  under  sixty-five  and  over 


16  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

sixty-five,  or  whatever  the  age-limit  fixed  for  the  moment 
may  be.  If  a  man  is  relieved  from  the  necessity  of  providing 
for  his  old  age,  he  will  inevitably  in  the  long  run  be  forced  to 
take  lower  wages  during  his  working  life. 

It  is  submitted  that  the  true  course  of  progress  lies  rather 
in  the  direction  of  the  increase  of  the  payment  of  labour  than 
in  the  condonation  by  the  State  of  inadequate  wages. 

As  the  experience  of  friendly  societies  well  shows,  a  very 
considerable  number  of  the  members  over  sixty-five  are  at 
work  and  earning  fair  wages — especially  in  rural  districts — 
whilst  many  under  sixty-five  are  no  longer  able  to  work. 
The  difficulty  of  fixing  an  age-limit  becomes  at  once  apparent. 

In  addition  to  this,  it  is  very  clear  that  if  the  principle  of 
Old-Age  Pensions  be  once  recognised  there  will  be  no  finality 
about  the  age-limit  wherever  it  may  be  fixed,  or  about  the 
amount  of  the  pension.  It  will  at  once  become  a  party 
question,  and  at  each  election  there  will  be  a  competition  in 
lowering  the  age,  and  increasing  the  amount  of  the  pension. 
The  plain  issue  is  whether  the  industrial  system  of  our 
democracy  in  the  future  will  be  based  upon  wages  or  relief. 

Partial  schemes  will  be  dealt  with  in  a  subsequent  paper. 

W.  A.  B. 


17 


III 

STATE-AIDED   PENSIONS 

Old- Age  Pensions  have  been  freely  promised  to  the  people. 
Ought  the  promise  to  be  fulfilled  ?     Can  it  be  fulfilled  ? 

What  is  a  Pension  ? 

A  pension  is  a  periodic  grant  of  pecuniary  relief,  made  out 
of  rates  or  taxes,  to  old  people  from  a  certain  date — the  date, 
for  instance,  when  they  reach  the  age  of  sixty -five,  till  death. 
It  is  thus  the  same  as  outdoor  relief,  except  that  it  is  not 
subject  to  withdrawal  at  any  time,  and  that  it  is  given  either 
to  all  who  apply,  or  to  the  poor,  or  to  certain  classes,  instead 
of  to  the  destitute  poor  only. 

The  main  question,  therefore,  is — whether  a  widespread 
system  of  outdoor  relief  is  good  for  the  people  ? 

There  are,  no  doubt,  many  difficulties  connected  with  old 
age,  as  there  are  with  widowhood,  or  with  want  of  employ- 
ment. There  is  no  doubt  also,  that  of  the  people  who  live  to 
be  old  and  belong  to  the  poorer  classes,  many  receive  outdoor 
relief.  The  same  may  be  said  of  widows.  Also,  as  is  right 
and  natural,  there  is  a  very  widespread  desire  to  help  the 
aged.  Now,  however,  it  is  proposed  to  give  this  desire  a 
special  form,  and  relieve  all  or  most  of  the  aged  by  pensions 
levied  by  rates  and  taxes,  or,  in  other  words,  by  outdoor 
relief.     Is  this  right  ? 

Want  and  Eelief. 

There  are  two  ways  of  considering  want.  One  way  is  to 
regard  want  as  a  kind  of  deficit    that   can  be  filled  up    by 

e 


18  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

relief.  The  other  way  is  to  consider  it  as  a  condition  due 
to  different  causes,  and  varying  in  kind  and  extent  according 
to  the  circumstances  and  character  of  the  individual.  Those 
who  believe  want  to  he  a  kind  of  deficit  to  be  filled  up  by 
relief  reckon  that  everybody  wants  on  an  average  the  same 
amount,  and  they  ask  the  State  to  make  it  good — usually  by 
five  shillings  a  week  all  round  or  by  a  sum  that  will  bring 
the  income  of  the  recipient  up  to  that  amount.  Those  who 
hold  the  other  view  say  that  they  know  that  there  is  in  the 
hands  of  the  people  a  constantly  increasing  sum,  the  fruit  of 
their  own  exertions,  to  meet  the  wants  of  old  age  like  other 
wants,  and  that  to  give  relief  in  large  quantities  is  to  stifle 
exertion,  just  in  proportion  as  the  relief  is  large  and  widely 
distributed.  They  say,  therefore,  that  it  is  best  for  the 
community  to  treat  all  its  members,  as  far  as  possible,  as 
men  and  women,  growing  and  improving  members  of  a 
developing  community,  not  as  paupers — dependent  people 
who  have  reached  the  limit  of  their  powers,  and  whose  labour 
must  be  supplemented  by  large  grants  of  State  relief. 

The  Advantages  of  Pensions. 

The  good  to  be  accomplished  by  pensions  is  stated  to  be 
the  increased  comfort  and  contentment  of  the  poor,  increased 
family  affection  and  help,  and  reduced  pauperism ;  and  these 
accompanied  by  no  economic  evils. 

No  evidence  is  furnished  that  pensions,  or  the  new  form 
of  outdoor  relief,  will  produce  comfort  and  contentment. 

Outdoor  relief  and  charitable  relief  of  a  similar  kind  given 
to  large  numbers  of  old  people  have  produced  the  opposite 
results — worse  conditions  of  life  and  discontent. 

Again,  outdoor  relief,  where  widely  given,  has,  it  is 
notorious,  stood  between  parents  and  children  and  checked 
family  affection. 

None  but  a  2»'iori  arguments,  founded  on  no  experience, 
are  furnished  to  prove  that  pensions  will  have  a  different  result. 

Pauperism,  it  is  said,  will  be  reduced.     On  this  point  also 


STATE-AIDED   PENSIONS  10 

no  evidence  is  adduced.  The  tendency  towards  dependence 
once  stimulated  is  not  easily  checked,  as  the  social  history  of 
England  has  shown.  Pauperism,  therefore,  is  likely  to  be 
largely  increased. 

In  the  future  some  who  now  receive  out-relief  from  the 
Poor  Law  may  receive  out-relief  from  the  Pension  authority. 
But  that  is  not  less  pauperism  ;  it  is  only  pauperism  under 
another  name. 

At  present  very  few  members  of  Friendly  Societies  receive 
poor  relief  in  old  age.     Then  all  or  most  will  do  so. 

There  will  thus  be  a  very  large  increase  of  pauperism. 
And  it  will  have  the  same  results  as  pauperism  in  the  past. 
There  will  be  heavy  and  increased  and  unproductive  taxation, 
which  will  weigh  down  the  industrial  strength  of  the  com- 
munity. There  will  be  discontent  and  the  acceptance  of 
lower  conditions  of  life,  with  a  decrease  in  energy  and  fore- 
sight. 

It  may  be  said  that  these  conclusions  are  drawn  from  the 
days  when  outdoor  relief  was  given  to  able-bodied  paupers. 
One  of  them  is,  namely,  the  effect  of  heavy  taxation  on  the 
community.  Of  that  more  hereafter.  The  others  are  not. 
They  are  drawn  from  comparatively  recent  evidence  in  every 
way  applicable  at  the  present  day. 

The  Various    Schemes. 

Many  schemes  have  been  elaborated,  some  because  a 
scheme  of  universal  pensions  to  persons  over  sixty-five  was  so 
costly,  and  it  was  prudent  to  introduce  so  vast  a  system  by 
degrees,  others  because  it  was  desired  to  introduce  a  pensions 
system  which  might,  if  possible,  encourage  self-reliance. 

There  are  two  groups  of  these  schemes. 

I.  The  universal  scheme  and  its  variations ;  schemes  to 

give  pensions  to  all,  or  almost  all,  the  aged  without  conditions. 

These  are  practically  schemes  for  the  redistribution  of  property 

on  the  basis  of  old  age. 

c  2 


20  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

II.  Quasi-provident  schemes.  These  are  schemes  to  give 
pensions  to  all  the  aged  who  have  saved  something,  or  belong 
to  a  Friendly  Society.  They  are  schemes  for  the  redistribution 
of  property  on  the  basis  of  old  age,  subject  to  these  conditions. 
Some  are  acknowledged  to  be  mere  stepping-stones  to  a 
universal  scheme. 

III.  There  is  also  a  third  group  of  schemes — schemes  for 
Poor-law  reform.  They  have  usually  as  their  object  a  new 
definition  of  those  entitled  to  claim  Poor-law  relief.  In  these 
proposals  it  is  desired  to  lay  aside  the  term  '  destitution  '  and 
to  recognise  age  as  of  itself  a  title  to  relief,  or  age  combined 
with  some  rough  test  of  '  deservingness.'  It  is  also  suggested 
that  this  branch  of  poor  relief  should  be  dissociated  from  the 
Poor  Law  and  put  in  the  hands  of  County  Councils. 

Thk  Cost. 

The  first  question  is  what  will  the  scheme  cost  ?  The 
nation  is  like  a  great  householder  living  under  conditions  that 
require  carefulness  in  management  and  frugality,  ju&t  like  the 
little  householder  ;  and,  like  the  little  householder,  the  nation 
should  pay  its  bills  year  by  year. 

The  annual  bill  payable  to  meet  the  immediate  cost  of 
pensions  at  the  age  of  sixty-five  under  Scheme  No.  I.  for 
England  and  Wales  only  would  be  about  £'20,000,000,  and,  if 
Scotland  and  Ireland  were  included,  more  than  £25,000,000. 
This  estimate  takes  no  count  of  claims  increasing  with  an 
increasing  population,  nor  of  the  expenses  of  management. 

Actually,  then,  it  is  a  proposal  to  spend  annually  on 
people  of  the  age  of  sixty-five  and  upwards  at  least  as  much 
as  is  now  spent  annually  on  the  army  or  on  the  navy,1  or, 
to  put  the  cost  in  another  way,  a  considerably  larger  sum 
than  it  has  been  found  necessary  to  provide  from  new  re- 
sources in  the  last  twenty  years  to  meet  the  increasing 
expenditure  of  the  nation. 

1  The  comparison  was  made  with  the  figures  for  1898-18'J'J. 


STATE-AIDED   PENSIONS  '21 

Such  proposals  bear  their  own  condemnation  on  the  face 
of  them.     To  pay  the  bill  might  well-nigh  ruin  the  nation. 

Accordingly,  partial  schemes  are  suggested :  a  later  date 
for  the  pension,  or  a  smaller  amount. 

To  get  something  done  becomes  the  main  object.  So 
Canon  Blackley  supports  Mr.  Chamberlain,  and  Mr.  Lionel 
Holland  is  ready  to  set  his  Friendly  Society  scheme  aside 
in  order  to  back  Mr.  Charles  Booth's  '  perfect '  measure  of 
universal  pensions. 

But  these  compromises  reveal  only  still  further  the  un- 
reasonableness of  the  whole  series  of  proposals.  They  rest  on 
no  principle.  In  order  to  push  through  a  scheme  of  some 
kind,  proposals  utterly  divergent  in  principle  the  one  from 
the  other — as,  for  instance,  Mr.  Holland's  and  Mr.  Booth's — 
are  to  be  forced  into  a  semblance  of  consistency. 

Property  Be  distribution. 

If  the  real  aim  of  those  who  make  these  proposals  be  to 
equalise  incomes  by  Statute,  or  to  make  those  who  pay  income- 
tax  endow  those  who  do  not,  they  are  likely  to  further  that  object 
well  enough.  The  greater  or  lesser  age  of  the  recipient  would, 
then,  mark  the  line  of  distribution.  Nothing  more.  Some 
twenty-five  millions  or  more  a  year  would  be  re-distributed 
on  an  old-age  basis,  at  55,  60,  or  65  years  of  age.  Nor  could 
the  amount  of  the  pension  be  taken  as  fixed.  As  savings  for 
old  age  decreased  or  the  standard  of  comfort  suggested  it, 
7s.  Gd.  or  10s.,  as  in  the  Australasian  Colonies,  might  appear 
to  be  a  more  suitable  pension  than  5s. 

Provident  Pension  Schemes. 

This  financial  argument  refers  to  provident  schemes  as 
well  as  to  those  of  the  '  Universal '  type.  The  difference 
consists  only  in  the  larger  or  lesser  amount  of  the  bill.  But 
one  or  two  other  arguments  may  be  mentioned. 

The  old-age  agitation  began  as  an  agitation  against  work- 


22  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

houses.  It  is  now  admitted  that  pensions  will  affect  the  class 
that  consists  of  inmates  of  the  workhouses  very  little. 

Of  the  aged  who  receive  outdoor  relief  in  England  and 
Wales — namely,  some  205,000  persons — very  few  have  put  by 
money  or  belonged  to  a  Friendly  Society.  If,  therefore,  that 
condition  be  required,  whom  would  the  pensions  benefit  ?  Not 
those  who  are  likely  to  become  paupers,  but  those  who  now 
provide  for  themselves.  Women  in  particular  would  be 
benefited  scarcely  at  all. 

Therefore,  these  Provident  Pension  schemes  will  not  affect 
the  Poor  Law,  and  in  regard  to  them  the  statistics  so  often 
repeated  about  pauperism  in  old  age  are  irrelevant. 

What  the  schemes  would  do  is  to  give  relief,  outdoor  relief 
apart  from  the  Poor  Law,  to  a  large  number  of  people  who 
now  provide  for  themselves.  What  is  the  good  of  this  ? 
None. 

Still  it  is  said — the  encouragement  which  by  means  of 
these  schemes  the  State  gives  to  the  people  to  provide  for 
themselves  will  enable  the  coming  generation  to  avoid  out- 
door relief  in  old  age.  This  is  said,  not  proven.  No  one  of 
the  advocates  of  these  schemes  has  proven  it  by  analogy  or 
otherwise.  Possibly,  judging  by  analogies,  the  bonus  will 
make  no  difference.  Those  who  are  inclined  to  save  will 
continue  to  save.  In  that  case  a  new  class  of  paupers  or 
State-relief  recipients  will  have  been  created,  while  the  old 
class  will  continue.  The  only  change  will  be  that  the  country 
will  pay  some  additional  millions  to  people  who  are  now 
independent. 

Another  feeling  is  that  the  aged  at  present  starve — old 
people  who  do  not  receive  charitable  relief  and  will  not  apply 
to  the  Poor  Law.  It  is  difficult  to  estimate  the  true  value  of 
evidence  gathered  from  many  sources  and  necessarily  coloured 
in  some  measure  by  the  different  views  of  the  witnesses. 
Amongst  others  Mr.  Charles  Booth  has  collected  evidence  on 
the  subject.'  It  may  fairly  be  said  that  this  evidence  points 
rather  to  the  unsatisfactory  condition  of  those  who  are  in 


STATE-AIDED   PENSIONS  23 

receipt  of  outdoor  relief  than  of  those  who  are  not ;  and, 
though  among  the  independent  aged  poor,  as  among  others, 
cases  of  privation  must  occur,  it  does  not  point  to  any  wide- 
spread or  exceptional  distress  among  them.  Nor  in  the 
Metropolis  do  the  so-called  '  Starvation  Eeturns '  support 
such  a  conclusion. 


Poor-law  Pension  Schemes. 

A  third  set  of  schemes  remain.  They  are  limited  to  Poor- 
law  reform,  and  have  thus  a  lesser  range. 

Increased  poor  relief  will  not  satisfy  the  claimants  for 
pensions,  for  probably  some  feeling  of  social  superiority  will 
prevent  many  from  classing  themselves  among  the  poor. 
Poverty  and  '  deservingness ' — both  of  them  conditions 
impossible  to  test — will  be  roughly  estimated  in  each  case, 
and  the  nation  may  support  a  larger  number  of  paupers, 
whatever  be  the  name  we  give  them. 

By  this  plan  the  circle  of  the  recipients  of  outdoor  relief 
would  gradually  be  enlarged,  and  thus  the  dependence  of 
the  people  on  State  relief — which  a  scheme  of  partial  or 
universal  pensions  would  precipitate — would  be  brought  about 
slowly  instead  of  rapidly.  As  against  the  better  course,  the 
encouragement  of  self-maintenance,  a  Poor  Law  scheme  would 
be  a  lesser  evil — State  maintenance,  limited,  if  not  by  destitu- 
tion, at  least  by  declared  poverty. 

To  the  question  then — '  Should  the  promise  made  to  the 
people  by  many  politicians,  that  they  should  have  Old-Age 
Pensions,  be  fulfilled  ?  ' — the  answer  must  be  in  the  negative. 
To  fulfil  the  promise  would  injure  the  people  and  cripple  most 
seriously  the  finances  of  the  country. 

C.  S.  L. 


24  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 


IV 

MISTAKES  AND  MISSTATEMENTS 

The  mistakes  and  misstatements  most  commonly  made  in 
regard  to  the  proposal  that  a  system  of  State  Pensions  in 
Old  Age  should  be  introduced,  may  be  summarised  in  a  few 
sentences. 

I.  State  Pensions  would  be  like  the  pensions  now  paid  to 
public  servants.  There  would  be  no  degradation  in  receiving 
them. 

II.  The  Friendly  Societies  are  insolvent.  As  their  mem- 
bers are  unable  to  make  them  solvent,  they  cannot,  it  is 
evident,  undertake  a  further  task  and  provide  pensions  for 
themselves. 

III.  Members  of  Friendly  Societies  have  a  special  claim 
on  State  help. 

IV.  Government  already  assists  them.  It  may  fairly, 
therefore,  give  them  pensions. 

V.  As  to  those  who  are  not  members  of  Friendly  Societies, 
there  is  a  strong  claim  too.  Nearly  every  other  person  in  the 
poorer  classes,  after  the  age  of  65,  is  in  receipt  of  Poor-law 
relief. 

VI.  They  have  in  their  old  age  no  alternative  before  them 
but  the  workhouse. 

VII.  And  old-age  pauperism  tends  to  increase. 

VIII.  The  reduction  of  outdoor  relief  makes  no  difference. 


MISTAKES   AND   MISSTATEMENTS  25 

People*-  do  not   become    more   independent   in    consequence. 
Less  outdoor  relief  only  means  more  indoor  relief. 

IX.  No  one  earning  less  than  23s.  a  week  can  or  ought  to 
provide  for  his  old  age,  if  he  does  what  is  right  by  his  wife  and 
children. 

X.  The  saving  on  the  administration  of  the  Poor  Law 
would  show  an  ample  margin  for  Old- Age  Pensions. 

In  the  following  pages  the  above  statements  are  taken  in 
their  order,  and  the  facts  in  regard  to  each  noted.  In  each 
instance  words  actually  used  in  support  of  them  by  advocates 
of  pensions  are  quoted. 

I. — Old-Age  Pensions  and  Public  Service  Pensions. 

The  idea  that  it  was  derogatory  or  degrading  to  independence  to 
accept  these  pensions  was  met  by  the  argument  that  ex-Cabinet 
Ministers  and  distinguished  officers  of  State  received  them,  and  it 
was  his  desire  to  level  up  that  unequal  state  of  affairs.1 

As  a  reply  to  this  Mr.  A.  F.  Vulliamy's  words  may  be 
quoted  : — 

It  is  said :  '  The  State  pays  pensions  to  the  veterans  of  its 
Civil  Service  and  its  Army  and  Navy.  Why  should  it  not  give  them 
to  the  veterans  of  peaceful  toil '? '  There  is  nothing  more  deceptive 
than  a  false  analogy.  The  State  desires  to  have  for  its  service  the 
best  of  a  man's  years,  and  the  best  only.  It  does  not  wish  to  have 
a  veteran  soldier  unable  to  do  a  long  day's  march,  or  a  civil  servant 
effete  through  age,  encrusted  with  tradition.  It  therefore  makes 
one  of  the  conditions  of  its  service  that  it  shall  have  the  power  to 
discharge  a  man  at  a  certain  age,  giving  him  a  pension.  It  secures 
thereby  efficiency  at  a  proportionately  low  rate  of  pay,  and  con- 
tinuity of  service.  The  State  pays  the  cost,  the  State  reaps  the 
benefit.  But  if  the  State,  that  is,  the  whole  community,  pays  the 
cost,  and  one  section  of  it  reaps  the  benefit,  whatever  it  may  be,  the 
analogy  altogether  ceases.     It  is  no  longer  deferred  pay  given  by 

1  Mr.  Claverhouse  Graham,  P.G.M.,  Manchester  Unity,  Woolwich,  February 
2G,  1897. 


26  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

the  State  for  services  rendered  to  it ;  it  becomes  a  gigantic  subsidy, 
in  part  to  employers,  in  part  to  men  employed  by  them.1 

There  is  no  question  of  '  levelling  up  that  unequal  state  of 
affairs.'  Public  servants  and  private  employees  serve  different 
masters  under  different  conditions.  The  contract  differs  as 
the  conditions  of  the  work  are  different ;  but  this  does  not 
imply  that  there  is  injustice  or  inequality  in  either  case. 

The  pension  of  the  public  servant  is  not  relief;  it  is  salary 
or  wages. 

The  State  Pension  of  the  private  employee  would  not  be 
wage,  but  relief;  and  if  it  is  'derogatory  or  degrading  to  his 
independence '  to  receive  relief,  it  is  derogatory  or  degrading 
to  him  to  receive  a  State  Pension. 

II. — The  Insolvency  of  Friendly  Societies. 

The  present  valuation  of  the  Manchester  Unity  showed  a 
deficiency  of  some  £600,000,  and  he  had  no  reason  for  thinking  that 
the  forthcoming  quinquennial  valuation  would  show  any  material 
improvement.  .  .  .  The  Foresters  were  still  worse  off.  Their  figures 
showed  that  they  were  worth  only  17s.  Ad.  in  the  £.  During 
the  past  five  or  six  years  they  had  tried  very  hard,  by  enormous 
labour  and  self-denial,  and  by  reducing  the  benefits  to  their 
members,  to  improve  their  position,  but  all  this  had  only  resulted 
in  an  improvement  to  the  extent  of  about  Ad.  in  the  £...'.. 
All  the  Friendly  Societies  were  making  tremendous  exertions  to 
improve  their  positions,  and  he  knew  of  cases  where  sick  pay  had 
been  reduced  to  a  shilling  a  week.  .  .  .  How,  then,  could  they  be  in  a 
position  to  offer  pensions  ?  What  should  be  done  '?  The  pensions 
must  come  from  the  State.      (Applause.)2 

Apart  from  the  accuracy  of  particular  points  in  this  state- 
ment, the  argument  is : 

The  Friendly  Societies  are  insolvent :  they  cannot  be 
made  solvent  on   existing   conditions ;    they   cannot   provide 

1  Mr.  A.  F.  Vulliamy  in  'Old -Age  Pensions,'  a  Paper  read  at  the  Central 
Poor- Law  Conference  in  February  1899. 

2  Mr.  Claverhouse  Graham,  in  Friendly  Societies'  Recorder,  May  7,  1898. 


MISTAKES   AND   MISSTATEMENTS  27 

their  members  with  pensions  ;  therefore  the  State  must  furnish 
such  pensions. 

The  insolvency  of  the  Societies  is  tested  by  the  question 
whether  or  not  they  could  provide  for  all  their  liabilities  if 
at  a  certain  date  they  closed  their  accounts ;  but,  desirable  as 
it  is  that  this  should  be  the  case,  it  does  not  follow  : 

(a)  That  societies  cannot  be  made  solvent,  or 

(b)  That  because  they  are  not  solvent  the  State  should 

provide  their  members  with  pensions. 

The  efforts  after  reform  must  have  time  to  work.  Five 
or  six  years  is  but  a  small  period,  considering  the  different 
circumstances  of  different  lodges,  and  the  newness  of  the 
whole  problem  to  many. 

Mr.  Brabrook  has  shown  how  societies  can  be  made  solvent 
under  most  difficult  conditions,  and  it  is  clear  from  what  he 
writes  that  there  is  no  impossibility  in  societies  attaining 
solvency.1 

1  'The  Law  of  Friendly  Societies,'  1894;  also  'Provident  Societies  and 
Industrial  Welfare:  '  E.  W.  Brabrook,  C.B.,  p.  92.  Mr.  Brabrook  writes:— 
'  Some  interesting  examples  may  be  given  of  how  a  valuation  deficiency  may 
be  met.  A  Society  in  Warwickshire  had  a  deficiency  of  £4,396.  In  the  course 
of  the  next  five  years  it  increased  its  funds  from  £10,880  to  £13,361,  and  so 
reduced  its  benefits  that  their  present  value  was  diminished  from  £26,024  to 
£20,922,  or  nearly  20  per  cent.  (4s.  in  the  pound).  The  result  was  that  the 
next  valuation  showed  a  surplus  of  £2,045.  A  Society  in  Middlesex  was  in 
the  apparently  hopeless  condition  that  its  funds  were  £3,720  only,  and  its 
valuation  deficiency  was  £5,023.  This  Society  took  such  vigorous  steps  for 
increasing  its  funds  and  extending  its  business,  upon  properly  calculated  rates 
of  premium,  that  in  five  years  it  had  raised  its  capital  to  £10,297,  and,  though 
it  had  increased  the  value  of  its  estimated  future  liabilities  from  £40,282  to 
£77,333,  the  valuation  brought  out  a  surplus  of  £413.  A  third  Society,  in 
Surrey,  was  in  a  position  which  even  the  most  heroic  measures  would  hardly 
have  seemed  sufficient  to  retrieve.  Its  funds  were  only  £3,471,  yet  its 
estimated  valuation  deficiency  was  £18,131.  There  could  be  nothing  in  such 
a  case  short  of  a  drastic  dealing  with  the  promised  benefits,  the  value  of  which 
was  reduced  in  the  next  valuation  from  £22,779  to  £9,874,  or  more*  than  56  per 
cent.  (lis.  in  the  £).  The  funds  were  also  increased  to  £4,912,  and  the 
valuation  showed  a  surplus  of  £378.' 

'  These  examples  may  serve  to  show  that  the  condition  of  valuation 
"  deficiency  "  is  rarely  a  hopeless  condition.     We  wrote  the  following  words  in 


28  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

But  neither  solvency  nor  insolvency  is  a  reason  for  State 
Pensions.  If  the  Societies  were  solvent — fully  able  to  meet 
all  the  claims  of  sick  insurance — their  members  would  not  on 
that  account  have  any  less  claim  for  State  Pensions ;  and 
being  insolvent  does  not  add  to  their  claim.  They  are  private 
and  independent  organisations,  and  must  stand  or  fall  as  such 
on  their  own  merits.  Still,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  they  seldom 
fail  to  meet  their  obligations  so  far  as  sick  benefits  are  con- 
cerned.    As  Mr.  Brabrook  once  wrote  : 

The  words  '  insolvency,'  '  rottenness,'  and  the  like,  which  we 
sometimes  hear  freely  used  as  describing  the  general  condition  of 
Friendly  Societies  are  utterly  out  of  place.  Of  Friendly  Societies 
in  general  it  may  be  said  that  there  are  no  associations  the  benefits 
of  which  are  more  important  to  their  members  ;  so  there  are  none 
that  are  managed  with  greater  rectitude,  and  few  with  equal  success. 

111. — The  Claim  of  Friendly  Societies'  Members  for 
Pensions. 

(a)  His  contention  was  that  the  members  of  these  societies 
deserved  pensions  in  preference  to  ordinary  workers  in  the 
country.  .  .  . 

From  the  latest  quinquennial  returns  of  189G  it  could  be  shown 
that  they  were  actually  saving  the  Poor  Rate  to  the  amount  of 

1881,  and  nothing  that  has  since  occurred  has  shown  them  to  be  incorrect : — 
"  A  word  of  caution  may  be  added  against  forming  too  hasty  conclusions 
adverse  to  Friendly  Societies  if  it  should  turn  out  that  the  valuations  in 
many  cases  show  an  estimated  deficiency  in  the  funds  to  meet  the  liabilities. 
It  would  be  strange  if  it  were  otherwise,  when,  for  the  first  time,  scientific 
tests  are  applied  to  contracts  that  have  been  in  operation  without  a  scientific 
basis  for  a  long  series  of  years.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind,  however,  that 
nothing  is  more  elastic  than  the  contract  made  by  a  Friendly  Society  with 
its  members ;  no  error  more  easy  of  remedy,  if  found  out  in  time,  than  one 
existing  in  the  original  terms  of  such  a  contract.  Hence  the  words 
'insolvency,'  'rottenness,'  and  the  like,  which  we  sometimes  hear  freely 
used  as  describing  the  general  condition  of  Friendly  Societies,  are  utterly  out 
of  place.  Of  Friendly  Societies  in  general,  it  may  be  said  that  as  there  are 
no  Associations  the  benefits  of  which  are  more  important  to  their  members, 
so  there  are  none  that  are  managed  with  greater  rectitude,  and  few  with 
equal  success." ' 


MISTAKES   AND   MISSTATEMENTS  29 

Is.  6d.  in  the  £.  (Applause.)  That  was  a  very  fine  example  for 
the  Societies  to  set  to  other  people,  and  one  reason  why  they  had 
a  right  to  claim  some  aid  from  the  State  in  return.     (Applause.) 

(b)  He  claimed  further  that  members  of  Friendly  Societies  stood 
on  a  higher  level  than  investors  in  the  Post  Office  Savings  Bank, 
Building  and  Co-operative'  Societies,  because  the  latter  expected  to 
receive  back  every  penny  they  paid  in,  but  thousands  of  Friendly 
Society  members  put  in  their  money  never  intending  to  have  it 
back,  but  were  united  and  combined  for  mutual  aid  to  others  as 
well  as  themselves.1 

The  Friendly  Societies  are  private  and  independent 
societies,  and  must  stand  or  fall  on  their  own  merits. 

In  the  above  extract  it  is  urged  that  practically  they  are 
public  societies,  and  that  their  members  have  a  public  claim 
on  the  State  for  grants  in  old  age. 

The  argument  is  : 

That  the  benefits  paid  by  Friendly  Societies  are  equal  to 
Is.  G<1.  in  the  £  of  the  Poor  Eate  ;  and  that  the  money  so 
paid  is  an  actual  saving  of  the  rates  to  that  extent,  and 
constitutes  therefore  a  claim  to  aid  from  the  State  in  return. 

In  1896-7  the  amount  of  the  Poor  Piate  for  all  purposes, 
that  is  to  say,  the  sum  raised  for  the  Poor-law  administra- 
tion and  that  raised  for  other  authorities  as  under  the  Poor 
Kate,  was  £22,166,996 ;  Is.  Qd.  in  the  £  on  this  sum  is  about 
£1,662,000.  But  the  expenditure  on  pensions  to  members  of 
Friendly  Societies  would  largely  exceed  this  sum.  If,  there- 
fore, pensions  were  granted,  no  '  rates  '  would  be  '  saved,'  for 
a  large  additional  charge  would  be  thrown  on  the  nation. 

But  what  is  meant  by  '  saving  the  rates  ? '  According 
to  the  words  here  used,  to  pay  the  doctor  and  keep  oneself 
when  one  is  ill  or  past  work  is  ecmivalent  to  saving  the 
rates. 

In  England  every  one,  it  is  said,  has  a  right  to  relief  if  he 
is  destitute,  and  it  would  follow,  on  this  argument,  that  every 
one  who  keeps  himself  from  destitution  saves  the  rates. 

1  Mr.  Claverhouse  Graham,  February  20,  1807. 


30  OLD-AGE    PENSIONS 

But  the  argument  is  based  on  a  misunderstanding. 

The  rate  is  collected  and  expended  for  the  aid  of  those 
actually  destitute,  not  of  those  who  at  some  future  time  may 
become  so.  The  State  assumes  that  its  citizens  provide  for 
themselves,  and  it  affords  them  no  alternative  until  or  unless 
they  are  in  a  state  of  destitution.  They  cannot  be  said 
therefore  to  save  the  rates  because  they  avoid  destitution,  for 
till  they  are  actually  destitute  they  have  no  claim  on  the 
rates. 

It  follows  that  members  of  Friendly  Societies  do  not  '  save 
the  rates  '  more  than  other  people  who  avoid  destitution  and 
do  not  apply  for  Poor-law  relief. 

Nor  have  they  any  superior  financial  claim  on  the  State, 
as  against  any  other  people  who  provide  for  themselves. 
If  the  member  of  a  Friendly  Society  is  a  '  good  life,'  pays 
his  club  money,  and  is  not  ill,  it  cannot  be  said  that  '  he 
has  put  in  his  money  never  intending  to  have  it  back,'  or 
that  he  has  paid  his  money  for  nothing.  His  return  has 
been  his  security  against  want  in  the  event  of  sickness, 
and  his  position,  even  from  the  point  of  view  of  money, 
has  been  better  than  that  of  a  man  who  has  paid  the  same 
contributions  and  has  been  on  sick  benefit,  which  may  mean 
bad  health  and  lessened  wage  for  a  long  time. 

IV. — Friendly  Societies  already  State-aided. 

It  was  too  late  to  object  to  the  Societies  receiving  State  aid,  for 
Friendly  Societies  had  already  secured  State  aid  in  the  shape  of 
relief  from  Government  charges  and  extra  interest  granted  by  the 
National  Debt  Commissioners  to  the  amount  of  £36,000  a  year.1 

The  Government  have  no  doubt  encouraged  Friendly 
Societies.  They  have  given  them  certain  privileges,  and  allowed 
them  at  one  time  a  high  rate  of  interest  on  investments. 

But  this  policy  of  encouragement  is  quite  different  from 
that  of  State  Pensions.      Heretofore  it  has  been  desired  to 

1  Mr.  Claverhouse  Graham,  February  26,  1897. 


MISTAKES   AND   MISSTATEMENTS  31 

encourage  the  independent  growth  of  Friendly  Societies  with- 
out direct  subsidies  and  by  a  limited  State  supervision.  Now 
it  is  proposed  to  give  State  subsidies  to  all  members  of 
Friendly  Societies.  The  object  of  assistance  and  the  method 
of  providing  it  is  different  in  each  case ;  and  the  plea  that 
the  Societies  have  been  helped  in  the  one  way  is  no  argument 
at  all  that  their  members  should  now  be  helped  in  the  other. 

V. — Pauperism  in  Old  Age  and  Pensions. 

With  a  present  proportion  of  three  out  of  seven  of  the  poorer 
part  of  the  population  obliged  to  seek  parish  relief  after  sixty- 
five  .  .  .x 

The  402,000  old  people  of  sixty-five  and  upwards  who  come  on 
the  rates  in  the  course  of  a  year  in  England  and  Wales  make  up 
roughly  a  third  of  the  population  of  the  same  age.  And  for  the 
most  part  they  are  simply  suffering  for  the  sin  of  living  on.2 

These  are  two  statements  so  improbable  that  they  may  be 
taken  to  be  untrue. 

Some  statements  can  be  tested  by  facts.  These  are  based 
on  doubtful  counts  of  paupers  and  on  estimates.  They  can 
therefore  be  tested  only  by  the  rule  of  probabilities.  So  tested 
they  are  most  probably  quite  incorrect. 

Two  counts  of  paupers  over  sixty-five  were  made  in 
1892.  One  was  made  on  January  1,  1892.  It  gave  the 
number  of  paupers  over  sixty-five  as  268,397,  or  19  per  cent, 
of  the  population  over  sixty-five.  The  other  was  made  for  the 
year  ending  Lady  Day,  1892.  It  gave  the  number  as  401,904, 
or  29  per  cent. 

Now  as  to  the  probabilities  of  the  correctness  of  these 
counts : — 

(a)  A  count  of  people  by  age  is  usually  incorrect,  because 
there  is  a  tendency  to  state  ages  in  round  numbers.  This  is 
a  well-known  fact  in  census-taking.  In  the  case  of  people 
who  are  old  or  on  the  threshold  of  old  age,  there  is  a  ten- 

1  Minority  Report,  Old- Age  Commission. 
8  Daily  Chronicle,  December  24,  1898. 


32  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

dency  to  state  the  age  as  sixty  or  sixty-five,  and  to  exaggerate 
the  age. 

(b)  In  counts  of  paupers  there  is  an  additional  reason  for 
exaggerating  age.  Various  privileges  are  given  to  aged 
paupers. 

(c)  The  count  above  quoted  (402,000),  is  the  year-count. 
It  is  not  taken,  like  a  census,  oe  a  single  night.  It  is  a 
number  counted  during  a  whole  year.  It  is  very  difficult  to 
make  such  a  count  accurate.  In  large  towns,  especially  in 
London,  people  are  constantly  moving  in  and  out  of  Poor-law 
institutions,  and  the  same  people  apply  in  different  Unions 
and  are  counted  over  and  over  again. 

(d)  In  London  the  count  is  without  doubt  exaggerated. 
In  some  Unions  more  than  half,  in  others  three-fourths,  in 
one  90  per  cent,  of  the  people  over  sixty-five  are  returned  as 
paupers.     This  is  contrary  to  all  probability. 

(e)  But  there  is  a  further  source  of  error.  Three  out  of 
seven  of  the  poorer  part  of  the  population  over  sixty-five  are 
paupers,  it  is  said.  This  depends  on  a  mere  estimate — that 
two-thirds  of  the  people  are  poor,  and  one-third  rich ;  but  it 
is  on  that  supposition,  and  on  the  doubly  doubtful  counts 
above  mentioned  of  the  old-age  pauperism  for  a  year  that  the 
statement  depends. 

(/)  To  sum  up,  the  calculation  of  '  the  three  out  of 
seven,'  or  nearly  every  other  person  over  sixty-five,  of  the 
poorer  population  being  a  pauper,  depends  on  two  very 
doubtful  age-counts — a  year-count  almost  certainly  erroneous, 
and  a  mere  estimate  of  the  number  of  the  poor  and  of  the 
rich:     There  is  every  probability,  therefore,  that  it  is  wrong. 

ill)  But  one  fact  makes  this  practically  a  certainty. 

Aged  paupers  are  classed  as  not  able-bodied  in  the  returns 
of  Poor-law  relief.  It  may  be  taken  for  granted,  therefore, 
that  if  there  were  a  large  increase  in  the  number  of  aged 
paupers,  there  would  be  a  similar  increase  in  the  number  of 
not-able-bodied  paupers.  But  in  fact,  if  we  compare  1890 
and  1892,  we  find  that   between    those   dates    the   paupers 


MISTAKES   AND    MISSTATEMENTS  33 

said  to  be  sixty-five  years  of  age  increased  largely,  while 
the  not-able-bodied  actually  decreased.  It  follows,  that  the  old- 
age  count  of  1892,  on  which  all  the  above  statistical  assertions 
depend,  can  hardly  be  otherwise  than  very  inaccurate. 

In  July  1890,1  the  not-able-bodied  paupers  in  England  and 
Wales  numbered  350,882.  In  January  1892, x  eighteen  months 
later,  they  numbered  350,838 — a  small  number  fewer. 
Compare  these  figures  with  the  numbers  of  the  aged.  In 
August  1890,2  the  over  sixty-five  are  returned  as  245,687,  and 
by  January  18923 — eighteen  months  later — they  had  increased 
to  268,397,  or  by  9  per  cent.  This  considerable  increase  of 
old-age  paupers,  when  not-able-bodied  paupers  were  actually 
fewer,  throws  the  greatest  doubt  on  the  age-counts  of  paupers. 

(h)  In  the  face  of  this  accumulation  of  improbabilities  only 
one  conclusion  can  be  drawn,  that  the  statement  that  three 
out  of  seven  of  the  population  over  sixty-five  is  a  pauper  is  a 
serious  exaggeration,  and  that  probably  even  the  19  per  cent, 
of  the  day-count  is  excessive. 

No  pension  scheme  can  reasonably  be  based  on  a  series  of 
statements  all  of  which  are  probably  inaccurate.  Yet  from 
these  figures  it  is  argued  that  because  so  many  of  those  over 
sixty-five  are  paupers,  all  should  receive  pensions. 

In  truth,  the  figures  of  old-age  pauperism  for  a  particular 
day  or  year  taken  by  themselves  are  unmeaning.  To  ascer- 
tain their  relative  value  we  may  compare  past  and  present 
returns.  This  comparison  still  further  weakens  the  case  for 
Old-Age  Pensions. 

Thus  we  may  compare  the  figures  at  the  end  of  each  decade.4 

1  B.  Returns,  July  1,  January  1. 

2  Mr.  Burt's  Return  :  36—1890. 

3  Mr.  Ritchie's  Return:  265—1892. 

4  Qf.  B.  Returns,  January  1,  and  the  Census  Returns  of  the  several  years. 
The  '  not-able-bodied '  paupers  are  taken  as  over  sixty  years  of  age,  less  a 
proportion  found  on  a  comparison  of  the  B.  Return,  July  1890,  with  Mr. 
Burt's  Return,  August  1890,  to  be  entered  as  not-able-bodied,  though  less  than 
sixty  years  of  age.  (See  '  Old-Age  Pensions  :'  Economic  Jovrnal,December 
1899,  p.  538.) 

D 


34  OLD-AGE    PENSIONS 

In  1871  there  were  twenty-one  paupers  over  sixty  in  every 
hundred  of  the  population  over  sixty. 

In  1881  there  were  fifteen. 

In  1891  there  were  thirteen. 

Further,  the  reduction  has  been  as  large  as  might  reason- 
ably be  expected.  This  is  shown  by  a  comparison  of  the 
decline  of  pauperism  among  the  able-bodied  with  that  which 
has  ta.ken  place  among  the  aged. 

The  figures,  then,  give  no  ground  whatever  for  the 
institution  of  universal  pensions,  or,  indeed,  for  any  measure 
of  State  interference. 

VI. — No  Alternative  but  the  Workhouse. 

The  old  workman  is  like  the  Ancient  Mariner,  for  whom  death 
and  life  in  death  are  casting  lots — for  the  workhouse  is  life  in 
death.1 

They  demand  from  the  State— from  the  Government,  they  have 
made  and  can  unmake — a  pension  in  their  old  age,  so  that  they 
shall  not  be  imprisoned  in  their  old  age,  nor  pauperised,  nor  lose 
their  civil  rights  at  a  time  when  they  are  most  capable  of  judging 
what  is  best  for  the  country.2 

This  and  other  statements  imply  that  the  fate  that  lies 
before  persons  who  apply  to  the  Poor-law  guardians  for 
relief  in  old  age  is  imprisonment  in  the  workhouse.  The  word 
is  altogether  wrong.  It  is  an  obvious  misstatement  to  call 
those  in  receipt  of  indoor  relief  in  any  sense  imprisoned. 

(a)  Less  than  one-fourth  of  those  over  sixty-five  receive 

indoor  relief.     Three-fourths  receive  outdoor  relief. 

(b)  Of  persons  who  receive  indoor  relief  about  a  third 

are  in  infirmaries  and  sick  wards. 

(c)  Of  the  aged  in  receipt  of  indoor  relief,  hardly  any 

could  live  on  a  pension  of  5s.,  even  if  they  had  it. 

1  Daily  Chronicle,  December  24,  1898. 

2  Mr.  Hind,  Secretary  of  the  Friendly  Society  State  Pension  League, 
June,  1898. 


MISTAKES   AND   MISSTATEMENTS  35 

This  last  statement  is  supported  by  a  great  mass  of 
evidence. 

The  results  of  one  inquiry  ma}7  be  quoted.  Mr.  Valiance 
made  the  following  statement  to  the  Royal  Commission  on 
the  Aged  Poor : 

Dealing  with  the  54  aged  men  (i.e.  over  sixty-five)  in  the  work- 
house, the  result  of  an  individual  examination  is  that  47  (or  87  per 
cent.)  are  'homeless,'  i.e.  without  home,  or  furniture,  or  relatives, 
with  whom  they  could  live  outside,  and  7  (or  13  per  cent.)  affirm  that 
they  are  not  '  homeless  '  in  that  sense.  And  similarly  in  the  cases 
of  the  135  aged  women  in  the  workhouse,  127  (or  94  per  cent.) 
were  found  to  be  'homeless'  and  8  (or  6  per  cent.)  '  not  homeless' 
in  the  sense  indicated.  The  above  7  males  and  8  females  '  not 
homeless  '  are  included  in  the  foregoing  classification  of  causes,  as 
follows  : — Intemperance,  4  ;  improvidence,  9  ;  and  misfortune,  2. 
Very  few  would  be  able  to  find  themselves  lodgings,  or  to  board 
and  lodge  with  some  family  in  my  judgment,  looking  at  the  class 
of  females  we  have  in  our  workhouse.  The  majority  of  them 
are  much  too  feeble  to  live  anywhere  alone,  even  with  friends.  They 
want  attention,  they  want  care,  and,  as  a  rule,  they  appreciate  the 
care  and  attention  which  they  receive  in  the  workhouse.  As  to  the 
men,  I  have  no  doubt  that  a  considerable  number  would  accept  5s. 
a  week,  but  the  larger  proportion  of  them,  I  fear,  would  return  to 
the  workhouse  either  unable  to  subsist  on  the  5s.  or  requiring  some 
attention  they  cannot  get  outside,  or  become  the  victims  of  intem- 
perate habits.1 

The  experiment  has  indeed  been  tried  of  offering  outdoor 
relief  to  persons  in  the  workhouse,  and  it  has  been  found  that 
those  who  received  it  soon  returned  to  the  house. 

VII. — The  Decrease  in  Old-Age  Pauperism. 

Old-age  pauperism  has  not  been  decreasing  in  this  country  .  .  . 
Whereas  the  proportion  of  paupers  under  sixteen  years  of  age  was 
twenty-one  to  every  thousand  of  the  population  of  the  same  age, 
and  between  sixteen  and  sixty-five  was  only  twelve  to  every  thou- 
sand, when  they  came  to  over  sixty-five  they  found  that  fifty-three 

1  Evidence,  Royal  Commission  on  Aged  Poor.     Q.  2510. 

D  2 


36  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

out  of  every  thousand  of  them  were  paupers,  .  .  .  and  when  they 
came  to  men  and  women  living  over  eighty  years  of  age,  the  sad 
fact  that  out  of  every  thousand  300  are  paupers.     (Shame).1 

It  has  been  shown  above,  that  compared  with  population, 
old-age  pauperism  has  decreased.  The  first  part  of  the  state- 
ments just  quoted  is,  it  is  evident,  based  on  some  miscon- 
ception. 

It  may  be  said  that  the  actual  number  of  not-able-bodied 
paupers  is  larger  now  than  it  was  in  1891,  and  had  been 
increasing  for  some  years  before.  This  is  true.  But  the 
increase,  it  can  be  shown,  is  largely  due  to  the  institution  of 
large  and  well-equipped  Poor-law  infirmaries  or  hospitals, 
to  which  admission  is  obtained  with  little  or  no  difficulty  ;  and 
without  doubt  also  there  has  been  a  considerable  relaxation 
in  the  administration  of  the  Poor  Law  in  the  past  few  years. 

But  the  argument  here  is  based  on  the  increase  of  pauper- 
ism in  later  life. 

We  must  expect  that  people  in  old  age  come  on  the  rates 
more  than  people  in  active  life.  Those  who  quote  these 
figures  say  : 

'  In  forty-nine  years — sixteen  to  sixty-five — twelve  per 
thousand  are  paupers.  In  twenty-five  years — sixty-five  to 
ninety — fifty-three  per  thousand  (or  more  than  four  times  as 
many  come  on  the  rates).     Is  not  this  dreadful ?' 

We  may  reply  :  '  You  are  comparing  dependence  in  a 
large  population  at  the  active  period  of  life  with  dependence 
in  a  population  reduced  by  age  and  in  the  period  of  life  in 
which  sickness  is  more  frequent,  and  wages  are  lowered,  or 
diminish  to  a  minimum.'     What  would  you  expect  ? 

To  this  question  there  is  usually  no  answer.  We  have 
ourselves  given  one  above.  The  decrease  in  old-age  pauperism 
is  as  large  as  you  could  expect — testing  it  by  the  reduction  in 
able-bodied  pauperism.  In  all  circumstances,  except  in  so 
far  as  people  provide  for  themselves,  you  must  expect  de- 
pendence in  old  age. 

1  Mr.  Claverhouse  Graham,  February  26,  1897. 


MISTAKES   AND   MISSTATEMENTS 


37 


VIII. — Reduction  of  Out-door  Relief  makes  no 
Difference. 

Two  well-preserved  fallacies  which  it  remains  to  expose  :  first, 
that  the  workhouse  is  in  the  long  run  less  costly  than  a  policy  of 
out-relief ;  next,  that  out-relief  in  the  nature  of  things  spreads 
pauperism.  The  further  proposition  that  the  reduction  of  out-relief 
is  not  followed  by  an  addition  to  the  workhouse  inmates  completes 
the  ingenious  distortion  of  facts  which  is  offered  to  the  orthodox 
as  the  true  faith.1 

The  following  figures  are  quoted  as  evidence  of  this  and  to 
show  '  that  while  the  proportion  of  out -relief  has  decreased 
the  general  cost  of  pauperism  has  steadily  gone  up  : ' — 


1860 

1870 
1874 
1897 


Number  of  out- 
door paupers  to 
one  indoor 


6-2 
5-4 
4-3 

2-8 


Paupers  per  1,000 
of  the  population 


42-6 
47-7 
36-6 
23-6 


Cost  of  relief  per 
head  of  the  popu- 
lation 


s.  a. 

5  5 

6  8 
6  8 
6  9* 


This  table  does  not  support  the  contention  in  any  way. 

(a)  Column  2  shows  that  while  in  1860  there  used  to  be 
forty-two  paupers  in  a  thousand  of  the  population,  in  1897 
there  were  only  twenty-three — a  decrease  of  nineteen  in  the 
thousand. 

(b)  Column  1  shows  that  the  decrease  of  outdoor  to  in- 
door paupers  was  on  a  much  greater  scale.  Whereas  in  1860 
there  were  six  outdoor  paupers  to  one  indoor,  there  were 
in  1897  about  three  (2*8)  to  one  indoor — a  decrease  of  about 
one-half. 

(c)  Thus  while  outdoor  paupers  are  fewer  by  one-half — as 
compared  with  indoor,  the  total  number  of  paupers  has 
decreased  by  nineteen  in  a  thousand  of  the  population. 

1  Daily  Chronicle,  February  11,  1899. 


,38,'J,'J02 


38  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

(d)  A  reduction  in  outdoor  paupers  coincides  with  a 
decrease  in  pauperism  generally. 

Accordingly,  so  far  as  these  figures  go,  a  reduction  of  out- 
door relief  limits  paupers  (or  conversely  'outdoor  relief  spreads 
pauperism '). 

And  further,  the  reduction  of  outdoor  relief  is  not  followed 
by  a  proportional  addition  to  the  workhouse  inmates. 

Many  instances  could  be  quoted  to  show  that  as  a  rule 
where  a  policy  of  restricted  outdoor  relief  has  been  adopted 
the  increase  in  indoor  paupers  has  been  slight  in  comparison 
with  the  reduction  of  outdoor  paupers,  and  vice  versa — an 
outdoor  relief  policy  increases  first  outdoor  and  then,  subse- 
quently, indoor  paupers. 

Next  as  to  the  cost :  the  figures  prove  nothing.  Analysis 
shows  that  the  cost  is  greater  per  head  of  the  population  only 
in  the  large  towns  or  in  counties  where  there  are  large  towns. 
The  reason  is  that  the  Poor-law  institutions,  especially  the 
infirmaries,  have  been  enlarged,  rebuilt,  and  greatly  improved. 
This  movement  began  about  1870.  It  would  undoubtedly 
have  taken  place  whatever  views  had  prevailed  in  regard  to 
outdoor  relief. 

People,  then,  have  been  growing  in  independence  even  in 
old  age ;  and  less  outdoor  relief  does  mean  fewer  paupers 
altogether,  not  fewer  outdoor  paupers  and  more  indoor. 

IX. — Most  People  cannot  provide  for  Old  Age. 

Three-quarters  of  the  unskilled  labourers  and  working  women 
had  nothing  to  look  forward  to  in  old  age  but  the  workhouse.  Two- 
thirds  of  the  population  were  dependent  upon  weekly  wages,  and, 
of  these,  one-third  in  London  were  compelled  to  support  their 
families  on  less  than  a  guinea  a  week.  He  did  not  wish  to  say  any- 
thing against  thrift,  but  thrift  did  not  mean  saving.  It  meant  that 
a  man  took  care  to  thrive,  and  that  he  and  his  family  should  live 
under  proper  conditions,  with  proper  housing,  proper  holidays, 
proper  food,  and  proper  culture.  It  was,  in  fact,  perfectly  impos- 
sible for  the  majority  of  the  working  people  in  this  country  to  make 


MISTAKES    AND    MISSTATEMENTS  39 

any  provision  for  old  age,  and  at  the  same  time  to  do  their  duty  to 
their  wives  and  families.1 

The  doctrine  that  wages  takes  old  age  into  account,  and  will  be 
depressed  all  round  under  a  pension  system,  belongs  to  the  purely 
mummified  order  of  economics.2 

The  argument  is  that  two-thirds  of  the  population  cannot, 
or  should  not,  save,  for  if  they  save  they  will  not  thrive. 
Consequently,  the  pension  of  the  State  must  take  the  place 
of  saving.     They  must  be  maintained  by  the  State  in  old  age. 

The  purchasing  power  of  money  has  greatly  increased  in 
the  last  twenty-five  years.  Wages  have  risen,  and  the  con- 
ditions of  labour  have  improved.  All  this  implies  greater 
ability  to  save  for  old  age.  Yet,  according  to  this  argument, 
these  advantages  are  to  be  ignored.  In  spite  of  them,  two- 
thirds  of  the  population  are  to  be  maintained  in  old  age,  since 
it  is  '  perfectly  impossible '  for  them  to  make  any  provision. 

This  is  Mr.  Charles  Booth's  argument  for  universal  pen- 
sions, pushed  home. 

The  standard  of  proper  housing,  proper  food,  proper 
holidays,  and  proper  culture,  will  vary  infinitely.  A  man 
with  40s.,  instead  of  21s.,  may  find  that  he  has  insufficient 
means  for  proper  culture,  just  as  may  another  man,  differ- 
ently, or  better,  educated,  who  has  £300  a  year.  It  follows 
that  so  far  as  a  pension  can  make  good  the  deficiency  of 
income  in  old  age,  all  are  entitled  to  it. 

But  a  pension  of  5s.  a  week  to  persons  accustomed  to 
spend  on  themselves  all  their  wage,  would  be  very  inadequate. 
It  will  pay  the  rent,  or  hardly  even  that.  It  will  be  a  pension 
to  the  landlord. 

People  who  have  had  to  provide  and  care  for  the  aged 
poor  know  that  5s.  a  week,  in  addition  to  rent,  is  necessary, 
if  they  are  to  live  in  tolerable  comfort.  The  State  Pension 
is  to  be  even  less  than  this. 

Still,  it  may  be  said  that  the  pension  will  be  merely  sup- 

1  Mr.  Sidney  Webb,  Daily  Chronicle,  March  4, 1899. 

2  Daily  Chronicle,  January  8,  1899. 


40  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

plementary.  Experience  shows  that,  where  the  State  inter- 
venes with  gifts  or  grants,  other  resources  shrink  up.  It  has 
been  found  that  where  outdoor  relief  is  largely  given  relations 
cease  to  help,  but  when  relief  has  been  refused,  except  in  the 
House,  they  come  forward.  Where  personal  effort  is  the  chief 
factor,  a  small  grant  towards  a  deficit  leads  always  to  a  larger 
deficit,  which  has,  in  turn,  to  be  met  by  a  larger  grant.  Hence, 
eventually,  the  pension  will  not  supplement  other  sources,  but 
become  a  substitute  for  them. 

To  separate  thrift  from  saving  is  unreasonable.  Thrift, 
no  doubt,  implies  a  wise  use  of  means,  and  this  includes  care- 
ful spending ;  but  people  who  spend  wisely  are  usually  those 
who  most  desire  to  have  a  reserve  to  meet  contingencies.  It 
is  the  thrifty  people  who  save.  People  who  do  not  save  at 
all  are  seldom  thrifty. 

Professor  Marshall  says  :  l — 

The  (old)  doctrine  is  that  if  you  tax  the  rich  and  give  money  to 
the  working  classes  the  result  will  be  that  the  working  classes  will 
increase  in  number,  and  the  result  will  be  that  you  have  lowered 
wages  in  the  next  generation  ;  and  the  grant  will  not  have  im- 
proved the  position  of  the  working  classes  as  a  whole.  As  regards 
this  a  change  has  come,  which  separates  the  economics  of  this 
generation  from  the  economics  of  the  past.  That  change  insists 
upon  the  fact  that  if  the  money  is  so  spent  as  to  increase  the 
earning  power  of  the  next  generation  it  may  not  lower  wages. 
It  is  reasonable  to  hope  that  instead  of  a  mere  reckless  increase 
of  population,  which  would  have  been  the  inevitable  consequence 
early  in  the  century,  there  would  be  a  rise  in  the  standard  of  living, 
and  wages  would  rise. 

In  the  present  case  the  change  proposed  implies  a  social 
revolution.  The  pensions,  amounting  in  the  aggregate  to 
several  millions  a  year,  will  be  a  monster  supplementation 
of  wage,  not  during  active  life,  but  in  old  age,  and  so  large  a 
bounty  even  at  that  time  of  life  cannot  but  affect  the  con- 
ditions and  contracts  of  labour  in  the  earlier  years. 

1  R.  Com.  Aged  Poor,  1895  ;  Q.  10272. 


MISTAKES  AND   MISSTATEMENTS  41 

If  we  accept  Professor  Marshall's  test,  the  question  is 
whether  the  pensions  will  increase  the  earning  power  of  the 
younger  generation — setting  free  for  the  better  bringing  up  of 
children  money  that  would  otherwise  be  saved  for  old  age. 

When  school  fees  were  abolished,  more  than  a  million  and 
a  half  a  year  formerly  levied  was  set  free — much  as  the 
pensions  might  set  free  wages — to  help  to  increase  the  earn- 
ing power  of  the  younger  generation.  There  is  no  evidence 
that  it  has  anywhere  had  this  effect. 

Further,  if  it  be  true,  as  some  urge,  that  it  is  now  '  per- 
fectly impossible '  for  the  majority  of  the  working  people  to 
make  any  provision  for  old  age,  and  at  the  same  time  to  do 
their  duty  to  their  wives  and  families,  it  is  clear  that 
pensions  will  set  free  no  wages  for  use  in  increasing  the 
earning  power  of  the  next  generation,  and  they  will,  therefore, 
so  far  as  this  argument  goes,  be  as  likely  as  not  to  lower 
wages. 

X.  — Poor  Law  Expenditore  and  Pensions. 

I  have  shown  that  on  the  most  careful  examination  of  the 
figures  relating  to  Poor  Law  expenditure,  every  working  man  and 
woman  now  maintained  in  workhouses  in  London  at  the  cost  of 
the  Poor  Law  costs  the  ratepayers  in  London  about  £'di  per  annum, 
whereas  the  maximum  sum  which  people  who  have  given  most 
attention  to  the  subject  agree  is  required  as  a  provision  for  old 
age  is  £18  per  annum.  It  follows  from  this  that  in  effect 
there  is  no  reason  why  the  really  deserving  and  respectable  poor 
should  not  be  provided  with  a  pension  of  £18  a  year,  instead  of 
being  made  paupers,  as  they  are  under  the  present  system,  for  such 
a  step  should  lead  to  an  immediate  reduction  in  the  present  sum 
provided  by  the  ratepayers  for  the  maintenance  of  those  very 
people  who  are  at  present  treated  as  indoor  paupers.1 

Here  is  a  complication  of  errors,  all  of  which  cannot  be 
disentangled  in  a  few  lines. 

The  argument  is  (1)  that  paupers  instead  of  receiving 
indoor  relief  should  receive  pensions  ;  and  (2) ,  that,  if  the  sum 

1  Sir  H.  Burdett,  R.  Stat.  Socy.  Jrnl.,  Dec.  1898. 


42  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

expended  on  indoor  relief  were  distributed  among  '  the  really 
deserving  and  respectable  poor '  or  the  people  now  '  treated 
as  indoor  paupers,'  it  would  suffice  to  give  to  each  a  pension 
of  £18  a  year. 

Without  entering  on  the  question  of  the  true  bearing  and 
correctness  of  the  figures  quoted,  we  find  by  an  analysis  of 
the  paupers  relieved  on  January  1,  1898,  that  the  former 
proposal  is  impracticable,  and  that  the  latter  therefore  falls 
to  the  ground. 

.  The  working  men  and  women  who  receive  indoor  relief  at 
the  cost  of  the  ratepayers  consist  of  : — 

(1)  9,678  indoor  poor,  technically  returned  as  able- 
bodied.  Nearly  half  are  '  temporarily  disabled.'  Very  many 
are  of  poor  physique,  if  not  actually  ill.  They  could  not  be 
pensioned. 

(2)  2,632  children  returned  as  '  indoor  ' — their  dependent 
children.  These  would  have  still  to  be  maintained.  No  sum 
for  pensions  would  be  forthcoming  under  this  head. 

(3)  33,901  not-able-bodied  receive  indoor  relief.  The 
greater  number  of  these  are  over  sixty.  Many  are  aged  and 
feeble.  They  could  not  be  pensioned,  as  the  evidence  given 
by  Mr.  Vallance  would  seem  to  prove. 

(4)  15,251 — their  dependent  children  (indoor).  None  of 
these  classes  could  be  maintained  by  pensions.  Accordingly, 
the  expenditure  on  them  must  continue,  and  very  little  can 
be  saved  from  the  maintenance  of  the  indoor  poor,  which  would 
allow  of  •  the  really  deserving  and  respectable  poor '  or 
'  those  now  treated  as  indoor  paupers '  being  pensioned  with 
£18  a  year. 

On  the  outdoor  poor  (excluding  lunatics  and  vagrants) 
£221,235  is  now  spent.  If  the  year  count1  be  accepted — and 
Sir  Henry  Burdett  accepts  it — there  would  be  some  26,000  out- 
door paupers  over  sixty-five  in  London.  And  to  give  to  these 
alone  £18  a  year  each  would  cost  £468,000  annually,  or  more 

1  Mr.  Kitcbie*s  Return  :   1892. 


MISTAKES   AND   MISSTATEMENTS  43 

than  twice  what  is  now  spent  on  all  the   outdoor  paupers 
together. 

Clearly,  therefore,  the  whole  scheme  is  impracticable. 
Very  little  money  can  be  diverted  from  the  maintenance  of 
the  indoor  paupers  ;  and  nearly  half  the  amount  required  for 
this  purpose  is  already  spent  on  the  outdoor  poor.  Mani- 
festly, therefore,  the  £18  a  year  could  not  be  provided  from 
the  moneys  now  spent  on  the  Poor  Law. 

The  mistakes  and  misstatements  with  which  we  started 
have  now  been  dealt  with  in  detail.  If  the  facts  are  as  they 
are  here  set  down— and  that  they  are  correctly  and  fairly 
stated  the  reader  can  judge  for  himself — there  is  no  good 
reason  for  introducing  a  scheme  of  State  Pensions. 

C.  S.  L. 


44  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 


ABSTRACT   OF   THE   REPORT   OF   LORD 
ROTHSCHILD'S  COMMITTEE 1 

The  reference  to  the  Committee  was  as  follows  : — 

'  To  consider  any  schemes  that  may  be  submitted  to  them  for 
encouraging  the  industrial  population,  by  State  aid  or  otherwise,  to 
make  provision  for  old  age ;  and  to  report  whether  they  can 
recommend  the  adoption  of  any  proposals  of  the  kind,  either  based 
upon,  or  independent  of,  such  schemes  ;  with  special  regard,  in  the 
case  of  any  proposals  of  which  they  may  approve,  to  their  cost  and 
probable  financial  results  to  the  Exchequer  and  to  local  rates  ;  their 
effect  in  promoting  habits  of  thrift  and  self-reliance ;  their  influence 
on  the  prosperity  of  the  Friendly  Societies ;  and  the  possibility  of 
securing  the  co-operation  of  these  institutions  in  their  practical 
working.' 

The  Committee  had  more  than  a  hundred  schemes  sub- 
mitted to  them.  They  considered  that  the  terms  of  reference 
precluded  them  from  recommending  any  scheme 

(1)  based  on  compulsion  ; 

(2)  confined  to  members  of  Friendly  Societies,  &c.  ; 

(3)  requiring  no  provision  by  the  pensioner. 

Such  schemes  therefore  as  that  of  Mr.  Charles  Booth  or 
Canon  Blackley  were  left  out  of  consideration  altogether. 
Some  special  enquiry,  however,  was  made  into  a  few  schemes 
confined  to  members  of  Friendly  Societies. 

1  The  Committee  was  appointed  in  July  1896,  and  reported  [C. — 8911]  in 
June  1898. 


REPOET   OF   LOED    ROTHSCHILD'S   COMMITTEE  45 

The  following  schemes  were  then  considered  seriatim  : — 

(1)  The    Parliamentary    Committee    scheme,    commonly 
known  as  Mr.  Chamberlain's  scheme. 

(2)  Sir  J.  Rankin's  scheme. 

(3)  Sir  Henry  Burdett's  scheme. 

(4)  Pvev.  J.  Frome  Wilkinson's  scheme. 

(5)  Hon.  L.  Holland's  scheme. 

(6)  The  Bristol  scheme. 

(7)  The  Chester  scheme. 

(8)  Scheme  A  (Sir  Spencer  Walpole's). 


THE  PARLIAMENTARY  SCHEME. 

The  Parliamentary  scheme  contemplates  three  methods 
by  which  an  annuity  of  5s.  a  week  at  sixty-five  may  be 
secured  : — 

(a)  By  a  cash  deposit  of  £2.  10s.  at  twenty-five  and  an 
annual  payment  of  10s.  a  year  up  to  sixty-five.  The  State 
is  to  credit  the  depositor  with  an  additional  £10  at  the  date 
of  his  deposit.  Interest  would  be  allowed  upon  the  total 
credit  at  2|  per  cent.  This  would  work  out  at  a  pension  of 
5s.  a  week  at  sixty-five. 

(b)  The  same  except  that  the  cash  deposit  would  be  £5 
and  the  annual  payment  £1.  In  this  case  the  State  credit 
would  be  £15.  This  would  admit  of  other  benefits  besides  the 
5s.  a  week  at  sixty-five,  the  chief  being  a  provision  for  widows 
and  children. 

(c)  The  deposit  of  30s.  by  a  man  or  25s.  by  a  woman  in 
the  Post  Office,  and  also  insurance  in  any  Society  for  an 
annuity  of  iJ6.  10s.  for  a  man  or  £3.  18s.  for  a  woman.  In 
this  case  the  State  would  double  the  annuity. 

The  objections  to  this  scheme  are  as  follows : — 

1.  Those  who  could  avail  themselves  of  the  scheme  are  mainly 
confined  to  the  higher   strata  of  the  working-classes,  and   little 


46  OLD-AGE    PENSIONS 

benefit  would  accrue  to  the  class  in  which  a  destitute  old  age  is 
most  common. 

2.  The  scheme,  save  as  modified  by  the  temporary  provisions, 
would  have  no  direct  effect  until  forty  years  from  its  introduction, 
when  the  pensions  would  begin  to  be  payable. 

3.  The  cost  to  the  State,  if  the  scheme  were  at  all  successful, 
would  be  much  higher  than  the  £2,000,000  a  year  estimated  by 
its  authors. 

4.  It  is  undesirable  that  the  State  should  become  the  holder  of 
further  great  accumulations  of  money,  regard  being  had  to  the 
difficulty  already  found  in  investing  the  money  held  by  the  Post 
Office. 

5.  The  actuarial  calculations  upon  which  the  scheme  is  based 
are  liable  to  be  gravely  affected  by  any  decline  in  the  rate  of 
interest. 

6.  (a)  The  State  could  not  safely  guarantee  the  solvency  of 
Friendly  Societies,  and  even  if  it  were  not  legally  liable  in  the  case 
of  the  failure  of  a  Society,  the  insurers  would  '  practically  view  the 
State  as  the  predominant  partner  in  the  insurance  and  look  to  the 
State  for  its  complete  fulfilment.' 

(b)  If  such  scheme  were  adopted,  increased  State  control  of  the 
affairs  of  the  Societies  would  be  necessary,  and  this  would  be 
strongly  opposed  by  them. 


SIR   J.    RANKIN'S   SCHEME. 

Any  one  who  is  in  possession  of  an  annuity  of  not  less 
than  £6. 10s.  at  sixty-five  shall  have  that  annuity  doubled  by 
the  State.  All  payments  are  to  be  made  through  the  Post 
Office  upon  a  certificate  from  the  .Society  granting  the  annuity. 

'  It  may  be  objected  to  this  scheme  that,  if  the  Post  Office  is  to 
accept  without  question  the  certificates  of  the  Societies,  no  adequate 
guarantee  against  fraud,  e.g.,  against  pensions  being  paid  at  different 
offices  to  the  same  persons,  will  be  provided ;  while,  if  it  is  to  test 
the  claims  of  each  pensioner,  work  will  be  thrown  upon  it  wholly 
irrelevant  to  its  ordinary  duties,  and  for  which  it  does  not  possess 
the  requisite  machinery.' 


REPOKT   OF   LORD   ROTHSCHILD'S   COMMITTEE  47 

SIR   HENRY   BURDETT'S   SCHEME. 

Sir  H.  Burdett's  scheme  applies  to  two  classes  of  wage- 
earners  : — 

(a)  Those  earning  from  15s.  to  20s.  a  week. 

(b)  Those  earning  less  than  15s.  a  week. 

Class  (a)  contribute  Is.  a  week  from  twenty  to  sixty,  or 
£2.  12s.  a  year,  paid  into  the  Post  Office. 

Class  (b)  contribute  9d.  a  week  from  twenty  to  sixty,  or  £2 
a  year,  paid  into  the  Post  Office. 

Out  of  these  contributions  the  State  is  to  pay  14s.  a  year 
per  member  to  an  approved  Friendly  Society  for  sickness 
allowance. 

The  balance  is  to  be  accumulated  at  2^  per  cent,  compound 
interest,  for  the  purpose  of  providing  an  annuity  for  each  class 
at  sixty  according  to  their  contributions. 

Sir  H.  Burdett  calculates  that  this  would  work  out  at  an 
annuity  of  £11.  lis.  6d.  for  class  (a)  and  £1.  18s.  6d.  for 
class  (b). 

The  State  is  in  each  case  to  make  the  annuity  up  to  £18. 

OBJECTIONS. 

1.  The  scheme  embraces  only  those  earning  under  20s.  a 
week. 

2.  Those  earning  such  wages  are  not  likely  to  be  able  to 
pay  continuously  for  forty  years. 

3.  It  makes  no  provision  for  the  pension  of  a  contributor 
whose  wages  increase  beyond  the  limits  fixed,  and  who  is 
thereby  excluded. 

4.  It  makes  no  provision  for  the  man  whose  wages  at 
twenty  are  above  the  20s.  limit,  but  fall  subsequently  to  20s. 
or  less. 

5.  It  is  limited  to  one  form  of  saving  only,  viz.,  by  deferred 
annuity  through  the  Post  Office.  Deferred  annuities  are 
unpopular,  and  the  scheme  would  therefore  be  likely  to  fail, 


48  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

but  if  they  became  popular  it  would  involve  large  accumula- 
tions in  the  hands  of  the  State. 

Other  objections  are  that  the  present  rate  of  interest  on 
Consols  is  barely  2  per  cent.,  not  2^  ;  that  it  would  involve 
interference  with  Friendly  Societies ;  that  it  assumes  uniform 
sickness  contributions  in  Friendly  Societies ;  and  that  it  would 
not  come  into  effect  in  the  lifetime  of  the  present  generation. 


THE  REV.  J.  FROME  WILKINSON'S  SCHEME. 
Any  one  who  is  in  receipt  of  an  annuity  of  Is.  6d.  a  week, 
whether  by  insurance,  charitable  gift,  or  allowance  from 
friend,  relation,  or  old  employer,  is  to  have  his  allowance 
increased  to  5s.  a  week.  No  limit  of  age  is  to  be  fixed,  and 
the  Parish  Council  is  to  be  the  recommending  or  distributing 
power.  There  is  to  be  no  inflexible  rule  by  which  the  appli- 
cant's social  and  moral  desert  is  to  be  judged. 

OBJECTIONS. 
'  This  scheme  involves  a  large  extension  of  the  liability  which 
the  State  is  asked  to  assume,  and  reposes  very  wide  discretion  in 
the  administrators  of  the  State  bounty.  It  would  probably  give 
rise  to  difficulties  according  to  the  lax  or  the  strict  manner  in  which 
different  local  authorities  would  interpret  their  duties  under  it,  and 
might  result  in  so  much  laxity  of  administration  as  to  be  hardly 
distinguishable  from  a  system  of  universal  pensions.' 

The  Committee  next  proceeds  to  the  consideration  of  three 
schemes  in  connection  with  Friendly  Societies,  although  they 
consider  these  as  outside  the  terms  of  their  reference  because 
'  they  contemplate  the  exclusive  benefit  of  a  particular  class 
of  society  or  organisation.' 


THE  HON.  LIONEL  HOLLAND'S  SCHEME. 

This  scheme  proposes  that  everyone  shall  receive  a  pension 
of  5s.  a  week  either  at  sixty  or  sixty-five  who — 


REPORT  OF  LORD  ROTHSCHILD'S  COMMITTEE      49 

(a)  had  belonged  continuously  since  the  age  of  twenty-five  to 
a  Benefit  Society ; 

(b)  had  never  received  Poor-law  relief; 

(c)  had  an  income  below  income-tax  level,  i.e.,  £160  a  year. 

The  pension  is  to  be  paid  half  out  of  Imperial  taxation, 
half  out  of  local  rates. 

By  Benefit  Society  Mr.  Holland  means,  '  any  registered 
Society  which  provides  sickness  expenses,  whether  a  friendly 
or  a  trade  association.'  He  proposes  a  special  register  for 
this  purpose,  but  would  not  admit  on  it  '  Societies  which  exist 
by  levies,  or  which  divide  their  funds  at  the  end  of  each  year, 
unless  they  choose  to  separate  their  sickness  funds  from  other 
funds.'  This  condition  would  exclude  the  general  body  of 
Trade  Unions  and  a  large  number  of  registered  Friendly 
Societies.  He  would,  moreover,  refuse  to  register  a  Society 
which  is  not  '  in  a  fair  degree  of  solvency.' 

What,  then,  is  a  fair  degree  of  solvency  ?  If  it  means 
20s.  in  the  pound  the  majority  of  Societies  would  be  excluded. 
In  any  case  the  admission-  of  a  Society  on  a  register  would 
imply  a  contract  that  the  State  would  grant  its  members  a 
pension,  even  if  it  should  fall  upon  evil  days  and  lose  the 
condition  of  '  fair  solvency.' 


THE   BRISTOL   SCHEME 
proposes    that    every    member    of    a    registered    Friendly 
Society  shall  receive  an  annuity  of  M6.  10s.  from  the  State, 
subject  to  the  following  conditions  : — 

(1)  The  member  must  be  of  the  age  of  sixty-five  years  at  least. 

(2)  He  must  have  been  a  member  of  a  Friendly  Society  for  a 
period  of  not  less  than  twenty-five  years. 

(3)  The  Friendly  Society,  or  the  branch,  of  which  he  is  a  member 
must  either  be  in  a  solvent  condition,  or,  at  least,  its  liabilities 
must  not  exceed  its  assets  by  more  than  10  per  cent. 

(4)  He  must  be  entitled  to  be  paid  for  the  remainder  of  his  life 
out  of  the  funds  of  his  Society,  or  branch,  an  annuity  or  super- 
annuation benefit  amounting  to  £Q.  10s.  per  annum  at  least. 

E 


50  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

(5)  He  must  be  under  no  liability  to  pay  any  contribution  to 
his  Society,  or  branch,  for  the  remainder  of  his  life  in  respect  of 
sickness  or  funeral  benefits. 

(6)  He  must  not  be  in  receipt  of  Poor-law  relief. 

With  reference  to  condition  (4)  it  is  pointed  out  that  in 
order  to  obtain  such  an  annuity  a  man  would  have  to  pay 
an  additional  l^d.  a  week  from  the  age  of  twenty-five. 


THE   CHESTER   SCHEME 

proposes  the  establishment  of  Old-Age  Pension  funds  by 
registered  Friendly  Societies  which  are  '  in  a  financial 
position  to  be  entrusted  with  the  management  of  such  funds,' 
and  that  these  are  to  be  subsidised  by  the  State  to  the  extent 
of  one-half.     Sick  pay  is  to  be  commuted  into  old-age  pay. 

OBJECTIONS  TO  BOTH  BEISTOL  AND  CHESTER  SCHEMES 
(AND  INDEED  TO  MOST  SCHEMES  IN  CONNECTION  WITH 
FRIENDLY   SOCIETIES). 

1.  They  imply  a  State  certificate  of  solvency.  There 
would  have  to  be  official  valuation  and  examination  of  invest- 
ments. Whilst  the  circumstances  of  Friendly  Societies  vary  so 
greatly  that  no  universal  standard  of  solvency  can  be  fixed, 
such  a  certificate  would  operate  to  the  disadvantage  or  ruin 
of  the  poorer  branches.  The  Friendly  Societies  would  resent 
such  interference. 

2.  The  commutation  of  sick  pay  for  old-age  pay  would, 
with  most  Societies,  be  actuarially  impossible. 

3.  The  preferential  treatment  of  Friendly  Societies  is  not 
admissible. 

4.  Hardly  any  women  would  be  affected,  Very  few  men 
in  Scotland  ;  fewer  still  in  Ireland. 

If  Trade  Unions  are  to  be  included  under  the  head  of 
Benefit  Societies  it  must  be  remembered  that — 

1.  The  funds  are  not  hypothecated  to  any  purpose,  but 
are  liable  to  be  affected  by  trade  disputes. 


REPORT   OF   LORD   ROTHSCHILD'S   COMMITTEE  51 

2.  Members  may  be  excluded  on  account  of  a  breach  of 
trade  regulations. 

3.  They  are  not  bodies  corporate,  and  cannot  be  sued. 
Their  members,  therefore,  would  have  no  remedy  at  law. 


SCHEME  A  (SIR  SPENCER  WALPOLE'S  SCHEME). 

This  scheme  was  originally  put  forward  by  a  member  of 
the  Committee  as  one  free  from  some  of  the  objections  formed 
against  the  other  schemes,  and  was  subsequently  developed 
and  modified  in  discussion  by  the  Committee  themselves  with 
the  view  of  making  the  best  possible  scheme.  It  is  as  follows : — 

1.  Any  person  at  sixty-five  having  an  assured  income  of 
more  than  2s.  6d.  or  less  than  5s.  may  apply  for  a  pension. 

2.  If  the  pensioning  authority  is  satisfied  as  to  the  income, 
a  pension  may  be  granted.  The  Guardians  are  to  be  the 
pensioning  authority. 

3.  The  applicant  must  not  be  physically  or  mentally 
infirm. 

s. 

4.  To  an  income  of  2 

>)  jj  3 

4 

55  55  * 

5.  '  Assured   income ' 
relief. 

7.  Not  more  than  half  of  the  pension  is  to  be  paid  out  of 
Imperial  taxation,  the  remainder  out  of  local  rates. 

8.  The  pension  is  not  to  involve  disenfranchisement. 
The  Committee  consider  this  to  be  the  scheme  which  is 

the  freest  from  objections  of  any  of  those  considered  by  them  ; 
they  say,  however, 

'  This  scheme  is,  in  our  judgment,  not  free  from  objections.  It 
(1)  imposes  on  the  State  generally,  and  therefore  on  the  industrial 
classes,  a  heavy  charge  for  providing  pensions  for  a  portion  only  of 
these  classes ;  (2)  encourages  that  amount  of  thrift  only  which  is 
required  to  ensure  an  income  of  2s.  Qd.  a  week  at  sixty-five,  but 


d.          s. 

d. 

6  ...  2 

6  is  to  be  added. 

0  ...  2 

o 

0  ...  1 

0 

includes 

everything    except    out 

52  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

discourages  any  further  thrift  ;  and  (3)  by  relieving  the  industrial 
poor  from  the  obligation  of  wholly  providing  for  their  old  age 
probably  tends  to  depress  the  wage  rate.  But,  on  the  other  hand, 
(1)  it  is  capable  of  being  brought  into  immediate  operation,  at  any 
rate  to  some  extent  ;  (2)  it  leaves  the  industrial  classes  free  to 
save  in  their  own  way ;  (3)  it  requires  no  difficult  investment  of 
accumulated  funds  by  the  State ;  (4)  it  offers  the  public  aid  to  all 
persons  of  the  industrial  classes  who  can  make  the  required  con- 
tribution. 

They  point  out,  however,  that  there  will  be  enormous  difficulties 
in  the  administration  of  the  scheme. 

1.  First  of  all,  with  regard  to  the  question  of  settlement. 
What  counties,  and  in  what  proportion,  will  be  liable  for  the 
rate  share  in  the  case  of  claimants  who  have  been  mi- 
gratory ?  How  about  people  who  return  from  the  Colonies  or 
even  come  from  foreign  countries  to  quarter  themselves  upon 
the  national  pension  fund  ? 

2.  The  ascertainment  of  age  and  income  would  require  an 
enormous  staff. 

3.  It  would  not  touch  those  who  most  require  it. 

4.  It  would  lead  to  misrepresentation  of  income,  which 
it  would  be  impossible  to  detect. 

As  to  its  probable  effects  upon  thrift  and  self-reliance  the 
Committee  speak  as  follows  : — 

'  Scheme  A  would  encourage  thrift  and  self-reliance  up  to  a 
certain  limit.  It  would  hold  out  a  strong  inducement  to  working 
men  to  save  sufficient  to  produce,  in  one  way  or  another,  the 
qualifying  income  of  2s.  Gd.  a  week.  But  the  man  whose  income 
(apart  from  wage  earning)  was,  at  sixty-five,  3s.  a  week,  would 
receive  from  the  public  authority  2s.  If  his  income  were  4s.  a 
week,  he  would  receive  only  an  additional  Is.  The  motive  for 
thrift  would  therefore  diminish  after  he  had  saved  enough  to 
produce  2s.  Gd.  a  week.  He  would  feel  that  his  subsequent  self- 
denial  only  lightened  the  burden  upon  the  public.  If  he  saved 
enough  to  give  himself  5s.  Gd.  a  week  after  sixty-five  he  would 
receive  no  public  aid,  and  his  income  would  only  exceed  by  Gd. 
a  week  that  of  the  man  who  had  saved  enough  to  give  himself  2s.  Gd. 


REPORT   OF   LORD   ROTHSCHILD'S   COMMITTEE  53 

a  week  and  received  an  additional  2s.  Gd.  from  the  public.  In 
other  words,  a  man  who  has  worked  hard  enough  to  lay  by  a  fund  of 
about  £135  would  hardly  be  any  better  off  in  old  age  than  a  man 
who  had  saved  no  more  than  about  £62.  In  this  way  the  scheme 
would  seem  to  encourage  thrift  up  to  a  certain  point,  and  after  that 
to  discourage  it.' 

They  add : — 

'  Within  the  limits  marked  out  by  our  reference  we  have  not 
received,  and  we  are  unable  to  construct,  any  scheme  less  open  to 
objection  than  that  stated  by  us  under  the  designation  of  Scheme  A. 
We  have  set  it  out  in  full  in  this  Report,  but  we  do  not  hide  from 
ourselves  the  objections  to  it  which  our  investigation  has  established, 
of  which  we  have  given  some  illustrations  in  the  course  of  this 
Report.' 


GENERAL   CONCLUSIONS. 

The  Committee  conclude  with  some  remarks  upon  the 
general  question  of  the  desirability  or  otherwise  of  Old-Age 
Pensions,  apart  from  any  particular  scheme  that  has  been 
submitted  to  them. 

The  limitation,  they  say,  of  the  amount  that  a  man  can 
be  expected  to  lay  by  for  his  old  age  depends  upon  the 
average  wages  that  the  individual  can  command.  The  power 
of  the  employed  to  obtain  from  the  employer  the  full  wage 
value  of  labour  has  increased,  and  is  increasing. 

The  evidence  shows  that  while  a  large  number  of  those 
earning  less  than  20s.  a  week  do  make  adequate  provision  for 
their  old  age,  it  is  also  the  fact  that  many  who  have  received 
a  far  larger  wage  reach  the  age  of  sixty-five  without  any 
savings  at  all. 

It  must  also  be  remembered  that  in  order  to  provide  a 
pension  people  must  be  taxed  in  some  cases  poorer  than  even 
the  pensioner  himself. 

The  people  who  require  assistance  must  form  only  a  small 
proportion  of  the  industrial  population,  and  of  these  only  a 


54  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

small  proportion  who  are  now  inmates  of  workhouses 
or  infirmaries  would  be  able  to  support  themselves  inde- 
pendently. 

The  old  age  of  the  working  classes  is  very  frequently 
accompanied  by  bodily  or  mental  infirmities  which  demand 
special  care  and  supervision.  Those  who  are  bedridden,  and 
those  who  are  suffering  from  senile  disability,  those  who  have 
fallen  into  insanitary  habits,  and,  finally,  those  who  are  no 
longer  capable  of  the  economical  application  of  a  small 
pension,  must  in  any  case  find  asylum.  The  cost  of  indoor 
relief,  therefore,  will  not  be  appreciably  diminished  by  any 
system  of  Old-Age  Pensions. 

With  regard  to  the  limited  schemes  they  say : — 

'  These  limitations  cannot  be  expected  long  to  survive,  seeing 
that  the  principle  on  which  they  rest  is  not  one  generally  accepted, 
or,  indeed,  capable  of  exact  definition.  The  limit  of  age  and 
pensioner's  contribution  will  probably  be  forced  down,  and  the  rate 
of  pension  forced  up,  till  the  cost  approaches  that  of  Mr.  Charles 
Booth's  proposals  for  universal  pensions  without  the  advantages 
which  are  claimed  for  that  scheme. 

Will  Old-Age  Pensions  encourage  thrift  ? 

'  Take  the  question  of  thrift.  No  evidence  given  before  the 
Royal  Commission  on  the  Aged  Poor  was  more  conclusive  than 
that  which  related  to  the  enormous  and  rapidly  increasing  amount 
of  the  accumulated  savings  of  the  working  classes.  It  showed  that 
to  industry,  intelligence,  and  self-denial  the  way  to  an  independent 
position  lies  open,  and  that  a  constantly  increasing  number  of 
individuals  among  the  working  classes  are  finding  it.  Yet  to  each 
of  these  the  advocates  of  State  aid  must  say,  "  If  you  relax  the 
exercise  of  the  qualities  which  lead  you  to  success,  if  you  limit  the 
provision  for  your  old  age  to  what  will  give  you  an  allowance  of, 
say,  2s.  Q>d.  a  week,  the  State  will  come  to  your  assistance  with  an 
equal  amount ;  but  if  you  succeed  in  making  yourself  really  inde- 
pendent in  old  age  you  will  receive  nothing  from  the  State,  while 
you  will  still  have  to  contribute  through  taxation  towards  the  provi- 
sion of  pensions  for  those  tuho  have  not  cared  to  make  sacrifices  as 


REPORT   OF   LORD   ROTHSCHILD'S   COMMITTEE  55 

great  as  your  own."     The  considerations  thus  suggested  will,  at 
best,  encourage  the  exercise  of  thrift  only  to  a  limited  degree.' 

Will  they  affect  wages  ? 

'  Will  a  State-aided  pension  system  affect  the  wage-rate  ?  It 
must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  earnings  of  the  workman  dependent 
on  wages  have  to  provide  for  his  support,  not  only  during  the 
period  of  his  actual  employment,  but  also  for  his  age  when  he  is 
past  work,  and  that  this  consideration  affects  the  rate  of  his  wages. 
But  if  the  whole,  or  a  part,  of  the  cost  of  supporting  him  when 
past  work  is  undertaken  by  the  State,  the  portion  of  the  wage 
applicable  to  this  service  ceases  to  be  an  essential,  and,  whenever 
the  competition  for  employment  is  keen,  the  wage  payment  will 
tend  to  fall  by  a  percentage  approximating  to  that  contributed  by 
the  State  to  tbe  pension  fund. 

1  The  difficulty  reappears  in  a  different  form  when  the  power  ol 
the  aged  to  contribute  to  their  means  of  support  by  light  labour  is 
considered.  A  man  or  woman  subsidised  by  the  grant  of  a  State 
Pension  is  in  a  position  to  underbid  a  competitor  who  has  no 
resource  but  his  or  her  actual  earnings,  or  the  rates.  The 
difficulty  is  of  very  wide  application,  and  cannot  be  disregarded  in 
considering  the  effects  of  a  State-aided  pension  system  on  the 
welfare  of  the  industrial  classes.  To  obviate  the  difficulty  an 
attempt  might  probably  be  made  to  prohibit  all  recipients  of  State- 
aided  pensions  from  engaging  in  remunerative  work  of  any  kind. 
Such  an  attempt  must  assuredly  fail ;  but  even  if  it  could  succeed  it 
would  have  the  effect  of  creating  a  compulsorily  unoccupied  class, 
with  doubtful  advantage  to  themselves  or  the  community.' 

Will  they  remove  the  '  taint  of  pauperism  ?  ' 
'  Any  discredit  must  depend,  not  on  the  form  in  which  the  relief 
is  received,  but  upon  the  causes  which  have  led  to  it.' 

The  Committee  conclude  :  '  We  approached  our  task  with 
a  deep  sense  of  the  importance  of  the  question  into  which  we 
were  charged  to  inquire,  and  of  the  benefit  which  would  be 
conferred  upon  the  community  if  a  scheme  could  be  elaborated 
giving  encouragement  to  the  industrial  classes  by  the  exercise 
of  thrift  and  self-denial  to  make  provision  for  old  age  while 


56  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

it  fulfilled  the  several  conditions  prescribed  by  the  terms  of 
our  reference. 

'  It  is  only  very  slowly  and  with  very  great  reluctance  that 
we  have  been  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  none  of  the  schemes 
submitted  to  us  would  attain  the  objects  which  the  Govern- 
ment had  in  view,  and  that  we  ourselves  are  unable,  after 
repeated  attempts,  to  devise  any  proposal  free  from  grave 
inherent  disadvantages. 

'  The  steps  by  which  we  have  arrived  at  that  conclusion 
are  already  stated  and  we  will  not  repeat  them,  but  before 
closing  our  Eeport  we  desire  to  refer  to  one  consideration 
which  the  course  of  our  inquiry  has  strongly  impressed  upon 
us.  It  is  that  a  large  and  constantly  increasing  number  of  the 
industrial  population  of  this  country  do  already  by  prudence, 
self-reliance,  and  self-denial  make  their  old  age  independent 
and  respected.  We  entertain  a  strong  hope  that  the  improve- 
ment which  is  constantly  taking  place  in  the  financial  and 
moral  conditions  of  labour  will  do  much  to  deprive  the 
problem  we  have  had  to  consider  of  the  importance  now 
attaching  to  it.' 

W.  A.  B. 


REPORT   OF   LORD    ROTHSCHILDS   COMMITTEE  57 

LIST  OF  MEMBERS  OF  THE  TREASURY  COMMITTEE 

ON 

OLD-AGE    PENSIONS 

(1896-1898) 

The  Eight  Hon.  Lord  Eothschild. 

Sir  Francis  Mowatt,  K.C.B.,  formerly  Permanent  Secretary 
to  the  Treasury. 

Sir  Courtenay  Boyle,  K.C.B.,  Permanent  Secretary  to  the 
Board  of  Trade. 

Sir  Spencer  Walpole,  K.C.B.,  Secretary  to  the  Post  Office. 

A.  J.  Finlaison,  Esq.,  C.B.,  Actuary  to  the  National  Debt 
Office. 

E.  W.  Brabrook,  Esq.,  C.B.,  Chief   Registrar   of    Friendly 
Societies. 

George  King,  Esq.,  Actuary,  London  Assurance  Corporation. 

A.  W.  Watson,  Esq.,  F.I.A.,  Manchester  Unity,  Oddfellows. 

Alfred  Chapman,  Esq.,  Parliamentary  Agent,  Ancient  Order 
of  Foresters. 

Bernard  Holland,  Esq.,  Secretary. 


58  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 


VI 

THE  ENDOWMENT  OF  MEMBERS  OF  FRIENDLY 

SOCIETIES 


OBJECTIONS  TO  A  BILL  TO  PROVIDE  FOR  THE  GRANTING 
BY  COUNTY  COUNCILS  OF  PENSIONS  IN  OLD  AGE, 
INTRODUCED  BY  SIR  FORTESCUE  FLANNERY  AND 
OTHERS  (1899;. 


Plan  of  Bill. 

1.  By  this  Bill  pensions  at  the  rate  of  £13  a  year  are 
provided  on  the  following  conditions : — 

(a)  Pensioner  to  be  sixty-five  years  of  age. 
(6)  Not  to  have  an  income  of  more  than  £40. 

(c)  Not  to  earn  more  than  5s.  a  week. 

(d)  To  be  a  member   of    a  registered  Friendly    Society, 

eligible  for  sick  benefit  at  the  rate  of  7s.  a  week  for 
fourteen  weeks  if  a  man,  5s.  if  a  woman. 

2.  There  are  the  following  further  regulations  as  to  the 
pensioner  being  a  member  of  a  registered  Friendly  Society 
or  joining  one  : — 

(a)  Members  of  Friendly  Societies  of  five  years'  standing 
prior  to  January  1,  1900,  if  qualified  as  above,  are 
eligible  for  a  pension  from  that  date. 


FRIENDLY    SOCIETIES'   ENDOWMENT  59 

(b)  Persons  who  are  not  members  of  Friendly  Societies, 

being  on  January  1,  1900,  more  than  twenty-one 
years  of  age,  may  obtain  a  pension  at  sixty-five  if 
they  join  a  Friendly  Society  within  five  years  from 
that  date,  and  remain  insured  in  it  till  sixty-five. 

(c)  Persons  not  twenty-one  by  January  1,  1900,  must  join 

a  Friendly  Society  before  they  are  twenty-five,  and 
remain  insured  in  it  till  sixty-five. 

These  are  the  main  features  of  the  scheme,  though  it 
should  be  added,  perhaps,  that  provision  is  made  for  the  con- 
tinuance of  a  pension  to  the  pensioner's  widow.  The  County 
Council  is  the  administrative  authority.  The  expenditure  is 
to  be  met,  one-third  from  the  county  rate,  two-thirds  from 
the  Exchequer. 

3.  The  scheme  is  thus  a  scheme  for  universal  pensions, 
to  be  introduced  by  degrees,  subject  to  the  condition  of  mem- 
bership of  a  registered  Friendly  Society. 

General  Objections. 

4.  Other  papers  issued  by  this  Committee  state  in  detail 
the  principal  objections  to  schemes  for  the  conditional  or  partial 
provision  of  pensions.  One  or  two  may  be  repeated  very 
briefly : — 

(a)  So  far  as  registered  Friendly  Societies  are  concerned, 

the  provision  is  unnecessary.  Very  few  members  of 
these  Societies  come  upon  the  rates.  It  is  undesir- 
able to  force  relief  upon  those  who  maintain  them- 
selves independently. 

(b)  Inasmuch    as    this    Bill    applies    only    to    registered 

Friendly  Societies,  it  fails  to  bring  within  its  scope 
the  vast  membership  of  unregistered  Friendly 
Societies,  Trades  Unions,  and  Societies  specially 
authorised  under  private  Acts,  &c. 

(c)  It  is  not  for  the  good  of  the  community  that  a  bounty 


60  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

should  be  put  upon  any  one  form  of  provision — e.g., 
in  this  instance,  sick  benefit. 
(d)  These  partial  schemes  can  only  terminate  in  universal 
pensions ;  and  even  so  there  is  no  element  of 
finality  in  them,  either  as  to  the  age  of  the  pensioner 
or  the  amount  of  the  pension. 

Objections  to  the  Bill. 

5.  Interpretations  have  differed  as  to  the  wording  of  the 
Bill  respecting  the  maximum  income  of  a  pensioner. 

On  one  interpretation  the  maximum  income  under   the 
Bill  would  be  : — 

£     s.     d. 
Income  apart  from  pension,  say  ...         ...     40    0     0 

Pension 13     0     0 

£53     0    0 

The  minimum  income  would  be  5s.  a  week. 

If  this  interpretation  be  correct,  it  is  beyond  the  duty  of 
the  State  and  both  extravagant  and  injurious  to  give  pensions 
to  those  who  already  possess  £J40  a  year,  or  about  15s.  a  week. 
Their  remuneration  need  not  be  crippled  by  restrictions,  as  is 
here  suggested  ;  and  they  are  quite  able  to  provide  for  them- 
selves. Their  income  will  be  larger  than  that  of  many 
labourers  at  their  best  period  of  earning.  Moreover,  many 
can  earn  more  than  5s.  a  week  at  sixty-five. 

6.  The  provisions  of  the  Bill  for  the  sick  insurance  of 
the  adults  are  in  great  measure  illusory. 

Those  over  sixty-five  on  January  1,  1900,  who  are  not 
members  of  registered  Friendly  Societies  under  the  required 
conditions  are  not  at  all  likely  to  insure.  The  expense 
would  be  prohibitive.  Practically  the  present  aged  poor 
are  therefore  outside  the  Bill. 

Similarly  all  non-members  above  sixty. 

The  female  aged  poor,  on  whom  the  difficulties  of  old  age 
press  most  hardly,  will  not  be  touched  by  the  Bill, 


FRIENDLY   SOCIETIES'   ENDOWMENT  61 

Again,  most  Friendly  Societies  have  an  age  limit — e.g., 
in  the  Foresters  it  is  at  forty. 

7.  By  requiring  all  who  desire  a  pension  to  join  a  Friendly 
Society  the  Government  would  have  to  undertake  the  direct 
supervision  of  the  Friendly  Societies.  registration  is  no 
test  of  solvency,  as  the  Bill  would  seem  to  suggest ;  and 
the  honus  which  the  Government  would  place  on  sick 
insurance  must  carry  with  it  responsibility  for  two  results — 
(a)  the  diversion  of  part  of  the  income  of  the  working  classes 
to  one  channel — sick  insurance  ;  (6)  its  diversion  to  Societies 
which  may  not  be  solvent  or  which,  to  use  Mr.  Lionel 
Holland's  phrase,  can  show  only  '  a  fair  degree  of  solvency.' 
These  results  cannot  ensue  without  definite  public  obligations 
accruing  to  the  Government  which  initiates  and  enforces 
such  a  policy.  It  is  even  possible  that,  if  the  bounty  of  the 
Old-Age  Pension  at  sixty-five  were  to  prove  attractive,  the 
Friendly  Society  system  itself  might  be  much  injured  by  the 
sudden  introduction  of  a  large  mass  of  the  population  in  a 
period  of  five  years.  The  mere  control  of  malingering  and 
the  supervision  of  sick  benefit  in  these  circumstances  would  be 
an  immense  difficulty. 

8.  The  difficulties  of  administration  under  the  Bill  are 
practically  insuperable. 

(a)  If  income  is  not  honourably  divulged,   it  is   almost 

impossible  to  ascertain  it.  The  Believing  Officers 
often  fail  to  do  this.  Take,  for  instance,  cases,  not 
infrequent,  such  as  that  recently  reported  in  the 
Times,  in  which  an  old  woman,  who  had  parish  relief 
for  twenty  years,  was  found  to  possess  £350  at  her 
death.  The  Bill,  by  giving  a  large  pension  to  the 
possessor  of  a  small  income,  would  put  a  premium 
on  this  form  of  deceit. 

(b)  The  proviso  that  the  pensioner  should  earn  not  more 

than  5s.  a  week  would  soon  become  a  farce.  Friendly 
Societies    have    to    watch   their    members   closely 


62  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

while  they  are  in  receipt  of  sick  pay  to  make  sure 
that  they  are  not  in  employment  while  on  benefit. 
Here  the  task  is  even  more  difficult.  It  is  a  ques- 
tion of  ascertaining  whether  the  employment  is  or 
is  not  regular  and  continues  to  be  regular.  The 
prohibition  virtually  imposed  by  the  Bill  that  the 
regular  wage  of  a  man  of  sixty-five  should  not 
exceed  5s.  a  week  (or  else  he  would  lose  his  pension) 
must  lead  to  such  men  taking  less  than  they  might 
otherwise  earn,  in  order  to  keep  the  pension. 

(c)  Questions  of  settlement  will  be  expensive  and  vexatious. 
To  the  extent  that  funds  are  locally  raised,  this  settle- 
ment   difficulty    is    unavoidable    in   one    shape   or 
another. 

To  the  extent  that  they  are  provided  out  of  Imperial 
taxation,  local  responsibility  of  administration  is 
weakened. 

(d)  Further,  as  to   the  inquiry :    to  ascertain  whether  a 

person  has  been  in  receipt  of  Poor-law  relief  during 
a  period  of  forty-five  years  is  a  difficult,  often  an 
impossible,  task.  To  find  out  even  whether  he  has 
ever  been  in  prison  during  that  time  is  far  from 
easy. 

(e)  It  is  a  most  hazardous  experiment  to  make  a  County 

Council— a  highly  centralised  body,  altogether  inex- 
perienced in  matters  of  relief  and  without  local 
knowledge — a  centre  for  this  administration,  and, 
as  the  Bill  proposes,  especially  to  place  in  its 
hands  an  equitable  jurisdiction  as  to  hard  cases, 
and  as  to  questions  so  difficult  to  verify  as  whether, 
during  a  period  of  forty-five  years,  a  man's  health 
was  such  that  he  could  not  obtain  admission  to  a 
Friendly  Society ;  whether  exceptional  distress  justi- 
fied the  interruption  of  his  payments ;  or  whether 
conviction,  without  the  option  of  a  fine,  should  debar 


FRIENDLY    SOCIETIES'    ENDOWMENT  63 

him  from  a  pension.  Confusion  between  the  work  of 
Boards  of  Guardians  and  that  of  the  County  Council 
must  ensue.  Questions  of  relief  as  electioneering  cries, 
and  the  vicious  principle  of  people  voting  for  relief 
for  their  own  class,  and  so  ultimately  for  themselves 
— already  too  prevalent  at  Guardians  elections — will 
be  introduced  into  County  Council  elections. 

W.  A.  B. 


64  OLD-AGE    PENSIONS 


VII 

A  EEPLY  TO  MR.  CHARLES  BOOTH'S  LATEST 
PROPOSAL  CONCERNING  'OLD-AGE  PEN- 
SIONS AND  THE  AGED  POOR' 

This  is  Mr.  Booth's  latest  utterance  upon  the  Old-Age 
Pension  Question.  It  contains  a  very  considerable  modifi- 
cation of  his  original  scheme,  which  was  to  give  every  one  over 
sixty-five  a  pension  of  5s.  a  week  unconditionally. 

In  his  present  proposal  the  age  is  altered  to  seventy,  and 
the  amount  to  7s.  a  week  for  men  and  5s.  a  week  for 
women.  That,  he  calculates,  would  work  out  at  £19,000,000 
for  the  year  1900.  He  estimates,  though  he  does  not 
give  the  grounds  upon  which  he  bases  his  estimate,  that 
£3,000,000  would  be  deducted  from  this  'to  represent  the 
extent  to  which  the  pensions  would  not  be  claimed  by  the  well- 
to-do.'  He  admits  here  that  he  treads  on  very  doubtful  ground, 
but  he  calculates  that  the  well-to-do  would  be  unwilling  to 
swell  the  crowd  of  old  men  and  old  women  applying  at  a  fixed 
time  at  the  nearest  post  office,  '  under  regulations  somewhat 
similar  to  those  which  prevail  in  the  payment  of  wages  at  a 
factory.' 

A  curious  feature  in  his  present  proposal  is  that  those 
between  sixty  and  seventy  would  be  allowed  to  '  discount 
their  pension  expectation,'  if  they  are  '  in  evident  danger  of 
having  sooner  or  later  to  seek  relief.'  In  such  a  case  they 
are  to  lay  their  case  before  the  Guardians  of  their  parish, 
who,  if  they  are  satisfied,  would  report  the  case  as  suitable  for 
special  treatment.     It  will  be  noticed  that  the  principle  of 


OLD-AGE  PENSIONS  AND  THE  AGED  POOR       65 

discrimination,  coupled  with  a  sort  of  Poor-law  test,  which  it 
was  one  of  the  first  objects  of  Mr.  Booth's  original  scheme 
to  do  away  with,  is  reintroduced  so  far  as  those  between 
sixty  and  seventy  are  concerned.  To  decide  who  is  '  in  evident 
danger  of  having  sooner  or  later  to  seek  relief,'  and  who  is 
not,  would  entail  a  somewhat  novel  sort  of  discrimination. 
Our  apprehensions  on  such  a  point  are  easily  awakened. 

Mr.  Booth  prefaces  his  present  volume  with  a  summary 
of  '  facts  '  taken  from  his  book,  published  in  1894.  It  would 
be  impossible  to  deal  with  these  '  facts '  in  the  compass  of  a 
paper  such  as  this.  It  must  be  sufficient  to  say  that  a  great 
many  of  them  will  not  bear  examination.  He  himself, 
indeed,  refutes  them  in  some  instances.  Thus  he  says 
(p.  vii)  that  varying  policies  of  Poor-law  administration 
are  '  clearly  connected  with  varying  conditions  as  to  density 
of  population.'  But  on  page  24  he  recognises  the  real 
cause  of  differences  of  administration,  namely,  the  influence 
of  individual  men  such  as  Sir  G.  Nicholls,  Dr.  Chalmers, 
and  others.  Again  (p.  vi),  he  says  that  small  numbers 
relieved  out  of  doors  are  connected  with  larger  numbers 
relieved  indoors.  This  is,  of  course,  entirely  contrary  to  all 
experience.  The  fallacies  are  so  numerous  that  we  can  only 
suggest  that  Mr.  Booth's  '  facts '  should  be  accepted  with 
great  reserve. 

Mr.  Booth,  in  his  preface  and  again  upon  page  44,  cites 
both  the  Royal  Commission  and  Lord  Rothschild's  Committee 
as  confirming  his  own  opinion  of  the  deplorable  and  hopeless 
condition  of  the  aged  poor.  If  he  had  quoted  the  Report  of 
Lord  Rothschild's  Committee  more  fully  upon  this  point,  he 
would  have  put  a  very  different  complexion  upon  the  matter, 
though  one  not  so  favourable  to  his  own  views.  What  that 
Committee  did  really  say  is  this  : 

'  A  large  and  increasing  number  of  the  industrial  population  of 
this  country  do  already  by  prudence,  self-reliance,  and  self-denial 
make  their  old  age  independent  and  respected.  We  entertain  a 
strong  hope  that  the  improvement  which  is  constantly  taking  place 

F 


66  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

in  the  financial  and  moral  conditions  of  labour  will  do  much  to 
deprive  the  problem  we  have  had  to  consider  of  the  importance 
now  attaching  to  it.' 

Mr.  Booth  admits  (p.  10)  the  improvement  in  the  con- 
dition of  the  aged  poor  and  of  the  poor  generally  as  compared 
with  ten  years  ago,  and  still  more  as  compared  with  thirty  or 
forty  years  ago.  He  states  very  fairly  (p.  23)  the  arguments 
of  those  who  view  with  extreme  apprehension  his  suggested 
reversal  of  the  policy  under  which  that  improvement  has  taken 
place.  He  admits  (p.  25)  the  success  of  the  work  of  Sir  G= 
Nicholls  and  Dr.  Chalmers  and  others.  He  admits  (p.  15) 
that  '  it  is  strictly  possible  for  almost  any  one  who  is  at  once 
sober,  industrious,  and  prudent  to  lay  by  or  make  provision 
in  some  way  for  old  age.'  We  are  naturally  surprised,  there- 
fore, that  he  should  wish  to  reverse  the  whole  policy  for  which 
Sir  G.  Nicholls  and  Dr.  Chalmers  contended,  and  to  substitute 
for  it  a  policy  of  his  own,  based  entirely  upon  a  p-iort 
reasoning,  and  backed  by  no  experience. 

The  main  thesis  laid  down  by  him  is  that  a  small  State 
endowment  in  old  age  will  be  a  greater  stimulus  to  thrift  and 
'  independence '  than  the  fear  of  destitution.  This  is,  of 
course,  quite  a  novel  theory  undreamed  of  either  by  Sir  G. 
Nicholls  or  Dr.  Chalmers.  '  Hope,'  says  Mr.  Booth,  •'  is  a 
greater  stimulus  than  fear.'  This  is  a  subtle  psychological 
problem  about  which  it  is  possible  to  take  very  different 
views.  So  far  as  can  be  gathered  from  his  pamphlet, 
the  only  analogy  from  practical  experience  that  he  can 
allege  in  support  of  his  views  is  that  it  is  the  rich  who 
accumulate  rather  than  the  poor,  a  proposition  which  no 
one  will  dispute.  The  prospect  of  7s.  a  week  at  seventy  will, 
he  argues,  be  an  incentive  to  the  poor  to  save  something 
during  their  working  lives  in  order  to  add  to  it.  It  may  be 
noted  in  passing  that  when  the  question  is  that  of  encourag- 
ing saving  by  a  bonus  on  deferred  annuities,  Mr.  Booth 
dismisses  the  proposal,  on  the  ground  that  the  benefit  is  too 
remote  (p.  30).    '  "I  shall  never  live  till  then,"  is  a  pessimism 


OLD-AGE   PENSIONS   AND   THE   AGED   POOR  67 

very  natural  with  the  young.'  It  is  difficult  to  see  how  an 
unconditional  7s.  a  week  at  seventy  will  be  an  incentive  to 
thrift,  whilst  5s.  a  week  (the  usual  sum  proposed  by  way  of 
deferred  annuity)  at  sixtj^-five,  coupled  with  a  condition 
that  there  shall  be  an  equal  amount  of  savings,  would  not 
be  so. 

The  general  view  of  Poor-law  experts,  both  in  the  past 
and  the  present,  is  that  endowment  by  the  State  has  exactly 
the  opposite  tendency,  and  it  would  be  more  reassuring  if 
Mr.  Booth  could  point  to  some  actual  experience  in  which 
this  principle  of  '  hope '  has  had  the  results  he  expects  from 
it.  To  the  average  observer  provision  appears  to  be  usually 
made  rather  against  a  rainy  day  than  a  moderately  fine  one. 
It  is  the  winter  that  induces  some  animals  to  lay  up  stores  of 
food.  Amongst  professional  men  of  the  middle  class  the  first 
incentive  to  provision  for  old  age  is  the  fear  of  destitution. 
It  is  true  that  with  increase  of  wealth  comes  also  the  desire 
for  accumulation,  but  this  desire  is  usually  associated  with 
wealth  which  is  self-acquired  and  tangible.  The  prospect  of 
7s.  a  week  at  seventy  from  the  State  would  hardly  appear 
likely  to  have  a  similar  effect. 

On  page  15  Mr.  Booth  urges  the  claims  of  the  old  to 
special  consideration.  And  yet  there  are  many  other  causes 
of  poverty  which  are  surely  quite  as  much  entitled  to  our 
consideration  if  we  depart  from  what  Mr.  Booth  calls  'the 
accursed  test  of  destitution.'  The  young  man  struck  down 
1  > y  illness  or  accident  surely  has  no  less  '  claim  '  than  the  old 
man  whose  powers  are  failing.  Old  age  is  a  condition  to 
which  all  must  look  forward,  and  for  which  there  is  a  whole 
lifetime  to  prepare.  Illness  and  accident  are  surely  much 
more  real  reasons  for  sympathy.  The  expectation  of  old 
age  is  part  of  the  discipline  of  life  which  tends  to  balance 
it,  and  which  probably  has  a  beneficent  effect  upon  the  average 
of  humanity.  The  failure  of  power  in  the  young  is  surely 
much  more  of  a  tragedy.  The  acceptance  of  Mr.  Booth's 
proposals  for  the  aged  must  inevitably  lead  to  their  ultimate 

F  2 


68  OLD-AGE    PENSIONS 

extension  to  the  disabled,  and  we  should  have  to  pension 
large  numbers  of  epileptics,  consumptives,  paralytics,  and 
other  cases  of  disablement. 

With  regard  to  Mr.  Booth's  proposals  for  those  between  sixty 
and  seventy  who  would  not  be  of  the  pension  age,  but  would 
be  allowed  to  anticipate  their  pensions  through  the  Poor  Law, 
we  may  notice  that  he  apparently  gives  no  estimate  as  to  the 
additional  cost  of  these  proposals.  So  far  as  it  is  possible  to 
gather  from  his  figures  (p.  53)  the  number  of  these  would  be 
about  1,817,782,  or  nearly  700,000  more  than  those  above 
seventy.  Though  he  apparently  assumes  that  the  cost  arising 
from  the  larger  number  of  claimants  and  the  longer  duration 
of  their  pensions  would  be  met  by  the  abatement  of  the 
allowance,  he  leaves  out  of  consideration  the  fact  that  a  large 
number  of  those  who  would  receive  anticipated  pensions  would 
never  live  to  be  seventy.  The  number  of  those  who  might 
consider  themselves  '  in  evident  danger  of  having  sooner  or 
later  to  seek  relief  is  an  indefinite  one.  It  might  even  be 
possible  for  people  to  transfer  any  property  they  might  have 
to  their  children— a  possibility  contemplated  by  Mr.  Booth 
in  connection  with  some  of  the  limited  schemes — for  the 
specipJ  purpose  of  proving  such  a  danger.  It  will  be  noted 
that  his  present  proposal  involves  a  return  to  the  Poor  Law, 
so  far  at  least  as  these  1,817,782  are  concerned,  or  at  least 
that  section  of  them  which  may  be  considered  to  be  'in 
evident  danger  of  having  sooner  or  later  to  seek  relief.' 

He  makes  a  great  point  of  the  '  abolition  of  outdoor 
relief '  as  an  integral  part  of  his  proposal,  though  even  on 
that  point  he  speaks  with  a  somewhat  uncertain  voice.  It  is 
difficult  to  grasp  the  distinction  that  Mr.  Booth  would  make 
between  his  proposals  for  Old- Age  Pensions  and  outdoor  relief. 
Mr.  Chamberlain,  speaking  at  Highbury  on  May  24,  stated 
that,  in  his  opinion,  any  such  scheme  would  amount  to  '  one 
gigantic  system  of  outdoor  relief  for  every  one,  good  and  bad, 
thrifty  and  unthrifty,  the  waster,  drunkard  and  idler,  as  well 
as  the  industrious.'     Many  people  probably  would  agree  with 


OLD-AGE   PENSIONS   AND   THE   AGED   POOR  69 

Mr.  Chamberlain.  On  the  other  hand,  Mr.  Booth's  criticisms 
of  partial  and  contributory  schemes  leave  nothing  to  be 
desired  in  the  matter  of  cogency. 

Mr.  Booth's  definition  of  independence  is  noteworthy; 
dependence  is  apparently  no  longer  to  consist  in  the  fact  of 
receiving  relief,  but  in  the  manner  in  which  the  relief  is  received. 
The  same  remark  applies  to  his  definition  of  pauperism  :  '  It 
is  the  selection  with  its  forms  of  application  and  the  inquiries 
it  involves  that  brings  loss  of  independence  .  .  .  herein  lies 
the  stigma  of  pauperism.'  Surely  such  arguments  are  mere 
quibbling.  In  the  words  of  Lord  Bothschild's  Report,  '  Any 
discredit  must  depend  not  upon  the  form  in  which  the  relief 
is  received,  but  upon  the  causes  which  have  led  to  it.' 

It  is  clear  that  Mr.  Booth  has  had  no  practical  experience 
of  Poor-law  administration.  On  page  19,  for  instance,  he 
disputes  the  suggestion  that  '  very  few  of  those  now  in  work- 
houses could  be  properly  cared  for  at  home.'  A  little  inquiry 
would  have  shown  him  that  Boards  of  Guardians  have 
frequently  examined  the  inmates  of  their  workhouses  with 
the  view  of  sending  them  out  upon  outdoor  relief,  but  with  a 
very  small  measure  of  success.  In  the  evidence  given  before 
the  Cottage  Homes  Committee  it  was  stated  that  the 
Guardians  of  a  large  workhouse  had  recently  had  an  overhaul 
for  that  purpose.  Of  several  hundred  inmates  they  only 
found  eight  whom  they  could  recommend  for  out-relief,  and 
four  of  these  absolutely  declined  to  go  out. 

On  the  question  of  finance,  again,  he  argues  that  a  large 
part  of  the  cost  of  Old-Age  Pensions  would  be  saved  out  of 
Poor-law  expenditure.  Taking  into  consideration  the  fact 
above  mentioned,  which  may  be  said  to  be  true  of  most  work- 
houses both  in  London  and  the  country,  and  the  fact  that  a 
large  part  of  Poor-law  indoor  relief  is  spent  upon  the  sick,  the 
able-bodied,  and  the  children,  whom  no  Old- Age  Pension  system 
would  affect,  it  is  difficult  to  see  where  the  saving  would  be 
made,  except  possibly  under  the  heading  of  outdoor  relief, 
which  he  puts  at  £'2,500,000.     But  most  Poor-law  authorities 


70  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

would  agree  that  of  this  £2,500,000  a  very  large  part  might 
be  saved  by  careful  administration. 

His  argument — under  the  heading  of  finance — that  the 
finality  of  the  proposal  would  be  determined  by  the  unwilling- 
ness of  the  country  to  support  additional  taxation,  can  hardly 
be  taken  seriously.  Such  an  argument  might  be  applied  to 
the  career  of  any  spendthrift  who  is  feeling  his  way  towards 
bankruptcy.  It  can  carry  no  more  weight  when  the  spend- 
thrift is  an  electorate  disposing  of  public  money. 

This  matter  of  '  finality  '  is,  in  fact,  one  of  the  most 
important  factors  in  the  whole  question.  It  has  several 
aspects,  all  involving  temptation  to  politicians.  There  is  no 
finality  in  the  figure  seventy  or  any  other  age-limit.  At  the 
very  outset  we  may  be  sure  that  no  one  age  will  be  equally 
applicable  to,  e.g.,  rural  and  manufacturing  districts.  There 
is  no  finality  in  the  sum  of  7s.  or  any  other  sum.  Mr.  Booth 
himself  formerly  took  pains  to  convince  us  that  5s.,  neither 
more  nor  less,  was  the  ideal  amount.  There  is  no  finality  in 
any  system  of  checks  or  conditions  :  how  long  would  it  be 
before  the  '  stigma  '  (not  to  mention  the  inconvenience)  of 
personal  application  at  '  the  nearest  post  office  '  would  be 
found  unbearable,  and  a  cry  be  raised  for  payment  by  postal 
order — secours  a  domicile — with  all  the  inevitable  risks  of 
mistake  and  fraud  ?  And  even  worse  than  the  absence  of 
finality  is  the  irretraceability  of  the  whole  scheme,  an  objection 
which  indeed  applies  to  any  comprehensive  scheme  whatever. 
Once  let  the  State  acknowledge  a  duty  to  support,  in  an 
eligible  manner,  any  class,  especially  a  non-destitute  class, 
and  there  is  practically  no  withdrawal,  but  only  a  constant 
pressure  towards  extension  of  the  class  so  favoured. 

He  treats  as  unimportant  the  question  whether  Old-Age 
Pensions  will  cause  employers,  children,  and  others  who 
have  natural  obligations  towards  the  pensioner,  to  discontinue 
their  assistance.  He  states  '  that  a  regular  money  allowance 
from  children  is  comparatively  rare.'  That  is  an  assertion 
which  any  one  who  has  had  any  experience  of  Poor  Law  or 


OLD-AGE   PENSIONS   AND   THE   AGED   POOR  71 

charitable  administration  will  absolutely  deny.  The  amount 
contributed  by  children  towards  their  parents'  support  is  at 
present  very  large.  At  the  same  time  directly  any  outsider 
steps  in  the  tendency  is  for  that  source  of  assistance  to  be 
discontinued.  The  same  applies  to  employers  of  labour.  At 
present  the  great  railway  companies  and  other  trading  organi- 
sations support,  wholly  or  in  part,  an  enormous  number  of 
pensioners.  Private  employers  in  towns,  the  owners  of  large 
estates  in  the  country  do  the  same.  The  extent  to  which 
children  are  prepared  to  help  their  parents  depends  undoubtedly 
very  largely  upon  the  sort  of  sentiment  upon  the  question  that 
is  '  in  the  air.'  Under  the  existing  Poor  Law  a  strong  feeling 
has  grown  up  that  it  is  discreditable  to  abandon  parents  in 
old  age  ;  but,  as  the  experience  of  the  old  Poor  Law  shows,  it 
is  not  difficult  to  undermine  that  feeling  altogether.  The 
same  may  be  said  with  regard  to  former  employers;  there  is 
at  present  a  strong  feeling  that  it  is  discreditable  to  abandon 
old  and  valued  employees.  This  shows  itself  not  only  in  actual 
grants  of  pensions  which  prevail  to  a  very  large  extent,  but, 
as  Mr.  Booth  himself  says,  '  in  the  provision  of  suitable  light 
work  at  wages  which  are  based  rather  upon  the  needs  of  the 
recipient  than  the  value  of  services  rendered'  (p.  7).  State 
Pensions  would  undoubtedly  deal  a  fatal  blow  not  only  to 
actual  pensions  by  employers  but  to  this  kind  of  quasi 
pension  which  Mr.  Booth  recognises  to  be  based  upon  '  a 
kindly  social  usage.' 

In  conclusion,  we  are  invited  by  Mr.  Booth  to  discard  the 
opinions  of  such  men  as  Sir  George  Nicholls,  Dr.  Chalmers, 
Professor  Fawcett,  and,  it  may  be  added,  of  all  the  most 
experienced  practical  Poor-law  authorities  of  the  present  day, 
and  to  take  a  leap  in  the  dark  with  a  blind  faith  that  his 
proposal  of  universal  endowment  in  this  form  or  in  that,  or 
perhaps  in  some  other  yet  to  be  revealed,  will  solve  the 
problem  of  indigence  in  old  age. 

W.  A.  B. 


72  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 


VIII 

A  CRITICISM  OF  THE  EEPORT  OF  THE  SELECT 
COMMITTEE  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 
APPOINTED  TO  CONSIDER  THE  QUESTION 
OF  THE  AGED  AND  DESERVING  POOR,  1899 

Though  for  the  moment  the  attention  of  the  Government  and 
the  public  is  diverted  from  the  subject  of  Old -Age  Pensions, 
it  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  question  is  otherwise  than 
in  a  state  of  suspended  animation.  Those,  therefore,  who 
believe  that  any  such  change  as  is  proposed  in  the  policy  of 
public  relief  would  be  reactionary  and  disastrous  cannot 
afford  to  relax  their  vigilance  or  to  take  off  their  armour. 

The  campaign  has  been  carried  on  with  great  vigour  and 
determination.  Three  bodies  of  inquiry,  following  close  upon 
the  heels  of  one  another,  have  been  appointed  to  consider 
the  question  since  it  was  first  brought  '  within  the  range  of 
practical  politics.' 

The  Royal  Commission  of  1893,  composed  of  members  of 
both  Houses  of  Parliament  and  of  representatives  of  those 
most  experienced  in  Poor-law,  charitable,  and  friendly  society 
administration,  examined  about  thirty  schemes,  and  reported 
against  them  all.  Lord  Rothschild's  '  Committee  of  Experts,' 
consisting  of  men  selected  for  their  knowledge  of  public  and  com- 
mercial finance,  and  of  the  finance  and  general  administration 
of  the  great  Friendly  Societies,  examined  about  100  schemes, 
and  found  themselves  unable  to  accept  any  of  them.  Both  of 
these  bodies  sat  for  about  two  years  and  examined  a  vast 
number  of  witnesses.     It  might  have  been  expected  that  their 


AGED   AND   DESERVING   POOH  73 

verdicts,  coinciding  as  they  did  with  one  another,  would  have 
been  taken  as  final.  That  was  not,  however,  the  case.  Within 
a  few  months  of  the  report  of  Lord  Rothschild's  Committee 
a  third  body  of  inquiry  was  appointed — this  time  a  Select 
Committee  of  members  of  Parliament,  a  large  proportion  of 
whom  had  already  committed  themselves  to  the  principle. 
In  their  case  special  knowledge  of  finance  and  of  Poor-law, 
charitable  or  friendly  society  work  is  conspicuous  by  its 
absence.  They  sat  for  less  than  three  months,  they  examined 
about  a  dozen  witnesses,  and  in  July  1899  they  found  that 
there  was  '  primd-facie  evidence  that  it  is  possible  to  create  a 
workable  scheme  of  Old-Age  Pensions  in  England.'  (§  44.) 

The  latest  phase  of  the  question  is,  therefore,  that  this 
report  of  the  Select  Committee,  which  is  in  direct  opposition 
to  the  two  previous  reports,  holds  the  field.  But  though  the 
Committee  have  indicated  the  general  lines  upon  which  they 
think  that  a  scheme  of  Old-Age  Pensions  '  might  best  be 
framed '  (§  55),  it  is  only  fair  to  say  that  they  recognise  the 
difficulty  of  their  position.  They  remark  with  some  truth 
that  '  any  recommendation  they  might  make  which  was 
in  conflict  with  the  conclusions  of  the  two  previous  bodies 
would  be  regarded  as  of  little  weight  unless  they  were  able 
substantially  to  meet  the  main  objections  which  had  been 
urged.'  Whether  they  have,  as  they  profess,  '  substantially 
met  the  main  objections  '  is  a  point  upon  which  one  may  at 
least  venture  to  express  a  doubt. 

They  had  before  them  substantially  the  same  evidence  as 
was  laid  before  the  Royal  Commission  and  Lord  Rothschild's 
Committee,  with  one  addition.  That  addition  was  the  evidence 
of  Mr.  Davy  as  to  the  system  of  Old-Age  Pensions  which  has 
existed  in  Denmark  since  1891,  and  of  which  the  Committee 
say  incidentally  that  it  is  '  substantially  the  same  as  the 
outdoor  relief  given  to  the  deserving  poor  in  this  country, 
except  that  in  Denmark  such  relief  can  be  claimed  as  a 
matter  of  right  and  conveys  no  civil  disqualifications.'  It  is, 
they  say,  upon  the  strength  of  this  evidence,  and  that  of  Sir 


74  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

Henry  Longley  as  to  the  working  of  the  pension  schemes  of 
the  Charity  Commissioners,  that  they  advocate  a  system  of 
Old-Age  Pensions  in  England.  Sir  Henry  Longley's  evidence, 
it  may  be  noted,  is  not  new,  because  he  was  also  a  witness 
before  the  Eoyal  Commission.  However,  as  these  are  put 
forward  as  the  grounds  of  their  decision,  it  becomes  necessary 
to  examine  briefly  the  evidence  both  of  Mr.  Davy  and  of  Sir 
Henry  Longley  in  order  to  see  how  far  it  bears  out  the  con- 
clusions of  the  Committee. 

These  are  the  words  in  which  Mr.  Chaplin's  Committee 
indicate  the  basis  of  their  faith  : — 

'  From  a  careful  examination  of  the  foregoing  evidence 
we  have  formed  the  conclusion  that  the  success  of  the  Danish 
Old-Age  Pension  scheme  on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the  other 
the  satisfactory  results  of  the  pension  schemes  which  have 
for  many  years  been  established  in  England,  afford  primd-facie 
evidence  that  it  is  practicable  to  create  a  workable  scheme  of 
Old-Age  Pensions  in  England.' 

Mr.  Davy's  Evidence. 

We  naturally  turn  to  Mr.  Davy's  evidence  to  see  what  he 
says  as  to  the  '  success  '  of  the  Danish  scheme.  It  must  be  re- 
membered that  the  Danish  scheme  has  only  been  in  opera- 
tion about  nine  years ;  that  Mr.  Davy  had  only  a  few  days  in 
which  to  make  his  inquiry,  and  he  expressly  says  that  it  is 
impossible  for  anyone  who  '  passed  so  short  a  time  as  he  did 
in  Denmark  to  form  an  opinion  worth  anything  at  all.'  Still 
two  things  are  clear  from  his  evidence,  taking  it  for  what  it 
is  worth  :  first,  that  he  is  by  no  means  so  satisfied  as  are 
Mr.  Chaplin's  Committee  of  this  alleged  success,  even  in 
Denmark ;  secondly,  that  he  is  absolutely  convinced  that  the 
conditions  in  Denmark  and  England  are  totally  different,  and 
that  he  personally,  speaking  from  his  lifelong  knowledge  of  the 
Poor  Law  in  England,  is  much  opposed  to  any  such  system  being 
introduced  into  England.  However,  it  is  noticeable  that  in  the 


AGED   AND   DESERVING   POOR  75 

Beport  there  is  no  reference  given  to  any  part  of  Mr.  Davy's 
evidence  as  to  this  alleged  '  success  '  of  the  Danish  scheme, 
and  when  we  turn  to  the  evidence  itself  the  reason  is  very 
clear,  for  such  evidence  is  non-existent.  Mr.  Davy  is  re- 
peatedly pressed  by  various  members  of  the  Committee  upon 
this  point.     These  are  some  of  his  replies  : — 

Mr.  Hedderivick. 

1040.  Your  evidence  has  been  so  complete,  that  I  have  very 
little  to  ask  you.  Is  the  result  of  your  inquiries  to  the  effect  that, 
whatever  the  cause  of  the  institution  of  this  system  of  pensions  in 
Denmark,  the  result  has  been  satisfactory? — Satisfactory  only  in 
a  very  modified  way ;  I  mean  to  say  it  is  satisfactory  in  so  far  that, 
as  I  am  told,  people  like  it ;  but  there  are  some  very  awkward  fea- 
tures about  it. 

1041.  That  is  not  exactly  what  I  was  upon.  I  will  put  it  in 
tbis  way:  Have  you  heard  any  serious  adverse  criticism  upon  the 
system  of  pensions  in  Denmark  from  Danish  sources  ? — Certainly, 
a  few  as  to  the  general  principle  of  pensions,  but  a  great  many 
criticisms  of  the  existing  Act. 

1042.  On  matters  of  detail  ? — It  is  rather  more  than  detail,  I 
think. 

1043.  What  sort  of  criticism  ? — The  criticism  that  the  pensions 
are  not  fixed  by  the  State,  but  are  fixed  by  the  local  authority ; 
that  is,  they  say  that  the  more  you  have  the  less  you  shall  have  ; 
and  it  is  a  form  of  outdoor  relief  which  must  affect  wages. 

There  is  no  condition  as  to  thrift  or  sobriety,  and  opinion 
in  Denmark  is  by  no  means  unanimous : — 

Chairman. 

917.  There  is  no  proof  or  test  of  thrift  required  to  qualify  for  a 
pension  ? — None  whatever. 

918.  Is  sobriety  not  a  condition  ? — No.  Some  people  say  there 
ought  to  be  tests  of  thrift  and  sobriety.  I  am  talking  now  not  of 
my  own  opinion,  I  am  talking  of  the  opinions  expressed  to  me  by 
the  Danes  engaged  in  the  administration  of  the  Act. 

919.  Did  you  ever  hear  whether  there  were  known  cases  where 


76  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

people  guilty  of  insobriety  continued  to  retain  their  pensions  ? — Not 
specifically ;  but  it  was  evidently  rather  a  sore  point  with  some  of 
the  administrators. 

920.  There  are  sometimes  complaints  made  upon  that  ground  ? 
—Yes. 

It  is  popular,  but  its  effect  upon  thrift  and  wages  are  an 
unknown  quality  : — 

Chairman. 

968.  At  the  same  time  I  understand  that  this  system  according 
to  your  evidence  gives  great  satisfaction  in  Denmark,  and  I  do  not 
understand  that  you  think  it  has  worked  on  the  whole  otherwise 
than  well '? — I  have  no  evidence  as  to  its  effect  on  wages.  I  have 
no  evidence  as  to  its  effect  on  thrift ;  it  has  no  doubt  been  popular 
with  the  people  themselves,  and  I  know  that  even  some  with  whom 
I  have  conversed,  who  have  devoted  some  attention  to  economic 
questions,  are  in  favour  of  it. 

Some  people  in  Denmark  hold  very  strong  adverse  views  : — 

Mr.  Holland. 

1060.  You  pointed  out  that  the  result  of  that  test  is,  in  the 
opinion  of  many  people  at  any  rate,  that  old  people  are  afraid  to 
work,  afraid  to  save,  and  afraid  to  get  their  friends  to  help  them  ? 
— That  is  what  was  written  to  me. 

It  has  certainly  not  saved  the  ratepayers'  pockets  : — 

Mr.  S.  Hoare. 

995.  So  that  while  the  ratepayers  have  saved  £73,000  by  the 
introduction  of  this  Bill  their  liabilities  have  increased  by  £40,000 
to  £113,000?— Yes. 

996.  So  that  the  ratepayers  under  this  Bill  are  finding  £113,000 
in  place  of  the  £73,000  which  they  have  saved  from  the  administra- 
tion of  the  Poor  Law  ? — Being  a  net  loss  of  something  over  £40,000. 

997.  If  so  the  pensions  have  increased  the  rates  by,  roundly, 
upwards  of  10  per  cent.  ? — Something  of  that  sort. 

Again  it  has  all  the  features  of  outdoor  relief : — 

580.  The   very   fact  that  the  pensions   vary  with  means  and 


AGED   AND   DESERVING   POOR  77 

earnings  shows  that  they  are  subject  to  the  disadvantages  which 
are  supposed  by  economists  to  attend  the  granting  of  outdoor  relief. 

People  in  Denmark  are  not  satisfied  with  the  law  as  it 
stands  : — 

1107.  There  is  a  strong  feeling  that  the  law  requires  amend- 
ment. 

It  has  also,  he  points  out  (1205),  created  a  great  increase 
of  work  at  the  Ministry  of  the  Interior. 

Mr.  Davy  speaks  with  official  reticence,  and  is  naturally 
unwilling  hastily  to  condemn  the  system  as  applied  to  a 
foreign  country  upon  a  three-days'  visit  of  inquiry.  On  the 
other  hand,  to  adduce  his  evidence  in  support  of  the  '  success  ' 
of  the  Danish  scheme  appears  to  be  little  short  of  disin- 
genuous. 

As  to  its  applicability  or  otherwise  to  England,  Mr.  Davy  is 
very  explicit.  His  thirty  years'  experience  as  an  Inspector  of 
the  Local  Government  Board  qualifies  him  to  speak  with 
great  weight : — 

Chairman. 

966.  From  what  you  have  seen  and  learnt  of  Denmark,  and 
your  knowledge  and  experience  of  the  Poor  Law  of  this  country,  do 
you  think  that  a  system  of  Old-Age  Pensions,  not  necessarily  on  the 
same  lines  as  the  Danish  system,  might  be  established  with  advan- 
tage in  England  ? — You  are  asking  generally  as  to  my  opinion  ? 

967.  Yes. — I  cannot  conceive  how  you  could  adopt  any  system 
of  pensions  in  this  country  which  will  not  be  open  to  the  objections 
which  all  experience  has  connected  with  the  grant  of  outdoor  relief. 

It  is  plain  that  from  whatever  source  Mr.  Chaplin  and  his 
Committee  derive  their  knowledge  of  the  '  success '  of  the 
Danish  scheme,  they  do  not  do  so  from  Mr.  Davy's  evidence, 
unless  we  consider  that  the  words  in  which  he  sums  up  the 
position  are  evidence  of  success  worthy  of  our  emulation : 
Every  one  said  it  was  popular  and  useful  politically'  (1045). 

It  will  not  be  forgotten  that  outdoor  relief  to  the  able- 
bodied  was  '  popular '  before  the  new  Poor  Law. 


78  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

Sir  H.  Longley's  Evidence. 

Turning  to  this  it  may  be  noted  that  Sir  H.  Longley 
repeatedly  disclaims  any  personal  knowledge  of  the  working 
of  the  pension  schemes  of  the  Charity  Commissioners.  The 
duty  of  the  Charity  Commissioners  is  to  formulate  the 
schemes,  and  the  administration  is  left  in  the  hands  of  local 
trustees.  Sir  H.  Longley's  evidence  upon  the  point  is  nega- 
tive rather  than  positive.  The  Charity  Commissioners  have 
received  '  few  complaints.' 

Again,  the  sum  devoted  to  pension  schemes  pure  and 
simple  by  the  Charity  Commissioners,  from  the  analogy  of 
which  Mr.  Chaplin's  Keport  infers  that  a  system  of  State 
Pensions  is  desirable,  is  a  comparatively  small  one,  not  much 
exceeding  £300,000.  A  moderate  estimate  of  the  sum  required 
under  Mr.  Chaplin's  scheme  is  £10,000,000. 

The  Report  cites  Sir  H.  Longley  as  of  opinion  that  the 
pension  schemes  of  the  Charity  Commissioners  had  worked 
'  satisfactorily  and  well.'  It  gives  not  the  smallest  hint  that 
he  had  made  any  sort  of  reservations  in  his  evidence.  It  may 
be  well  therefore  to  quote  his  actual  words  when  he  is  pressed 
upon  the  subject  by  the  Chairman  : — 

Chairman. 

384.  On  the  whole,  so  far  as  you  know,  the  inquiries  have  been, 
generally  speaking,  satisfactorily  conducted  ? — I  know  very  little 
to  the  contrary. 

385.  The  system  has  worked  well? — I  think  so,  on  the  whole, 
considering  how  large  the  system  is. 

386.  You  have  not  heard  it  has  been  the  occasion  of  any  con- 
siderable difficulties  ? — -No.  We  very  rarely  hear  about  the  working 
except  perhaps  sometimes  a  complaint  from  some  candidate  that  he 
or  she  has  not  been  preferred  to  some  other  candidate  ;  but  it  is 
very  difficult  for  us  to  deal  with  a  question  of  that  sort,  and  we 
generally  trust  to  the  trustees  in  such  a  case  as  that. 

The  chief  local  schemes  specifically  referred  to  in  his 
evidence  are  the  St.  George  the  Martyr  scheme,  '  which  has 


AGED   AND   DESERVING   POOR  79 

only  been  established  a  few  months,'  and  which  provides  for 
about  fifty  pensioners,  and  the  Wells  and  Camden  Charity, 
which  provides  for  about  twenty-three  pensioners.  The  deduc- 
tions to  be  drawn  from  the  analogy  of  these  two  charities 
would  not,  therefore,  appear  to  be  of  very  wide  application. 
But  Sir  H.  Longley  hints  that  in  spite  of  all  the  regulations 
drawn  up  by  the  Charity  Commissioners  to  ensure  discrimina- 
tion in  the  choice  of  pensioners  : — 

469.  In  some  cases  the  inquiry  may  not  be  quite  so  searching 
as  one  might  expect  it  to  be  from  the  scheme. 

Again,  local  elective  bodies  are  not  altogether  to  be 
depended  upon  for  impartiality  in  their  choice  : — 

470.  Of  course,  there  is  rather  a  danger,  is  there  not,  that  with 
a  body  of  this  kind  there  might  be  a  certain  amount  of  favouritism  ? 
— I  am  afraid  that  is  an  objection  to  all  pension  systems  ;  I  have 
always  felt  that  throughout. 

47.1.  It  is  an  objection  to  all  schemes  for  pensions  except  where 
there  is  an  automatic  test  ? — Yes  ;  there  is  no  doubt  that  pensions 
may  be  jobbed. 

Sir  H.  Longley  is  pressed  for  his  opinion  as  to  the  question 
of  State  Pensions.     He  replies  : — 

450.  I  have  not  considered  the  matter  of  State  Pensions  at  all, 
as  I  told  the  Chairman. 

Speaking  as  an  '  old  Poor-law  administrator  '  he  says  :— 

544.  I  should  say  I  consider  that  desert  has  nothing  to  do  with 
Poor-law  administration  ;  that  is  an  old-fashioned  view,  but  that  is 
my  opinion  as  an  old  Poor-law  administrator. 

Sir  H.  Longley,  like  Mr.  Davy,  is  of  course  speaking  with 
official  reserve  for  a  department,  the  responsibility  for  which 
he  shares  with  others.  His  evidence  however,  summarised, 
amounts  to  this  :  He  has  no  personal  knowledge  of  the 
administration  of  the  Commissioners'  schemes  by  the  local 
trustees,  but  believes  that  they  are,  '  on  the  whole,  considering 
their  size,  worked  satisfactorily  and  well.'     He  does  not,  it  will 


80  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

be  noted,  volunteer  this  statement.  The  words  are  those  of 
the  Chairman,  and  he  merely,  with  some  hesitation,  partially 
acquiesces.  He  hints,  however,  that  the  investigation  is '  some- 
times not  so  searching  as  might  be  expected  from  the  nature 
of  the  scheme."  He  recognises  the  danger  of  favouritism  and 
jobbery.  He  himself  has  never  considered  the  question  of  Old- 
Age  Pensions,  but  holds  the  opinion  of  the  old-fashioned  Poor- 
law  administrator,  that  desert  has  nothing  to  do  with  Poor- 
law  administration. 

This  is  very  different  from  the  bald  statement  in  the 
Keport  (§40)  '  that  Sir  H.  Longley  had  expressed  his  opinion 
that  this  large  existing  pension  scheme  had  worked  satisfac- 
torily and  well.' 

Mr.  Monro's  Evidence. 

The  Committee  also  examined  Mr.  Monro,  the  clerk  of  the 
Wells  and  Camden  Charity.  The  only  thing  to  be  noticed 
about  this  is  that  they  quote  him — rather  triumphantly — as 
of  opinion  that  that  scheme  has  had  no  deleterious  effect 
upon  the  saving  habits  of  the  people  in  the  district  (§41). 
The  inference,  of  course,  is  that  a  State  Pension  scheme  on 
the  lines  recommended  by  the  Committee  would  also  have  no 
hurtful  effects  upon  thrift  generally.  We  have  already  seen 
that  the  number  of  pensions  granted  under  that  scheme  is  23 
in  a  population  of  about  80,000.     Comment  is  not  required. 

So  much  for  the  evidence  of  Mr.  Davy,  Sir  Henry  Longley, 
and  Mr.  Monro,  which  the  Committee  consider  so  conclusive 
an  argument  for  Old- Age  Pensions.  We  now  have  to  consider 
their  suggestions  for  a  '  workable  '  scheme. 

The  '  Scheme.' 

Their  recommendations  are  briefly  as  follows  : — That  any- 
one who  is  a  British  subject,  over  sixty-five,  not  subject  to 
certain  disqualifications,  resident  in  the  district  of  the  pension 
authority,  has  not  more  than  10s.  a  week,  has  endeavoured  to 
the  best  of  his  ability  by  his  industry  or  by  the  exercise  of 


AGED   AND   DESERVING  POOR  81 

reasonable  providence  to  make  provision  for  himself  and  those 
immediately  dependent  upon  him,  shall  be  entitled  to  a  pension. 

The  pension  is  to  be  not  less  than  5s.  a  week  and  not  more 
than  7s.  The  pension  authority  is  to  be  a  committee  appointed 
by  the  Board  of  Guardians,  with  power  to  add  to  their  number. 
It  is  recommended  that  other  elective  public  bodies  should  be 
represented  upon  it. 

The  first  thing  that  strikes  one  about  these  recommenda- 
tions is  that  the  Select  Committee,  having  taken  the  Danish 
scheme  as  their  model,  proceed  at  once  to  recommend  some- 
thing entirely  different.  In  Denmark  the  amount  of  the 
pension  is  not  fixed  ;  as  a  matter  of  fact  it  averages  from 
Is.  Id.  to  2s.  3d.  per  pensioner  (577),  instead  of  from  5s.  to 
7s.  The  pension  authority  in  Copenhagen  is  a  Government 
official ;  in  the  country  it  is  the  '  communal  authorities,'  but 
they,  unlike  our  Boards  of  Guardians,  are  elected  upon  a 
property  qualification.  Denmark,  moreover,  has  a  total 
population  of  about  two  and  a  half  millions.  Copenhagen  is 
the  only  large  town  ;  the  population  is  chiefly  composed  of 
peasant  proprietors.  The  Committee  themselves  say  that  the 
Danish  scheme  differs  very  little  from  our  system  of  outdoor 
relief  except  that  it  is  statutory. 

The  recommendations  themselves  are  practically  the  same 
as  those  which  were  repeatedly  before  the  Eoyal  Commission 
and  Lord  Rothschild's  Committee,  and  rejected  by  them. 
The  only  suggestion  which  has  any  vestige  of  novelty  is  the 
'  reasonable  providence '  clause.  This  clause  is  purposely 
drafted  in  such  vague  and  shadowy  terms  that  it  would  in 
practice  exclude  no  one.  Everyone  is  aware  that  in  the 
administration  of  relief  the  almost  universal  tendency  is  to 
say  '  Yes  '  rather  than  '  No.'  The  strength  of  that  tendency 
is  redoubled  when  relief  is  administered  by  an  elective  body 
unwilling  to  incur  unpopularity.  The  clause  would  certainly, 
as  the  Committee  admit,  leave  '  considerable  discretion '  to 
the  pension  authority.  No  one  who  has  watched  the  course 
of  Poor-law  administration  can  doubt  what  the  result  would 

G 


82  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

be.  There  are  even  now  a  considerable  number  of  Boards  of 
Guardians  who  look  upon  '  providence '  as  rather  discredit- 
able than  otherwise.  Mr.  Sidney  Webb  and  his  followers 
denounce  saving  as  a  vice.  But  even  if  the  pension  authority 
were  as  anxious  as  are  the  Select  Committee  to  encourage 
thrift,  it  is  no  easy  matter  to  decide  what  amounts  to 
'  reasonable  providence,'  whether  actual  or  constructive.  In 
order  to  decide  the  question  judicially  it  would  be  necessary 
to  investigate  the  whole  circumstances  of  each  pensioner's 
past  life,  his  opportunities,  and  his  obligations.  It  is  difficult 
enough  to  weigh  such  a  matter  in  the  case  of  those  whom 
we  know  best.  How  can  we  expect  an  elective  body,  swayed 
by  all  sorts  of  personal  considerations,  to  come  to  a  right 
conclusion  in  the  case  of  those  who  are  utter  strangers  to 
them  ?  It  is  quite  clear  that  they  will  either  ignore  the 
clause  ab  initio,  or  give  it  up  in  despair. 

The  Objections  'substantially  met.' 

We  now  come  to  the  objections  alleged  by  the  two  previous 
bodies  of  inquiry  which  Mr.  Chaplin's  Committee  claim  to 
have  '  substantially  met.' 

80.  One  of  the  commonest  objections  to  pension  schemes  has 
been  as  follows  : — That  they  impose  on  the  State  generally,  and 
therefore  on  the  poor  and  the  industrial  classes,  a  heavy  charge  for 
providing  pensions  for  a  portion  only  of  those  classes.  But  that 
objection,  it  seems  to  us,  is  met  by  the  proposals  which  we  make 
for  improved  poor  relief,  the  advantages  of  which  will  be  open  to 
any  and  to  all  of  the  poorer  classes  who  may  be  unable  to  comply 
with  the  conditions  which  are  attached  to  the  grant  of  a  pension. 

This  will  hardly  be  much  consolation  to  those  who  have 
an  income  exceeding  10s.  a  week,  of  whom  there  are  happily 
a  large  number,  even  exceeding  the  age  of  sixty-five.  Of 
course  they  can,  if  the}7  like,  in  cases  where  the  margin  of 
income  in  excess  of  the  Old-Age  Pension  is  a  narrow  one, 
give  up  their  work  and  throw  themselves  upon  the  State  ; 


AGED   AND   DESERVING  POOR  83 

and  that  no  doubt  many  will  be  inclined  to  do.  But  so  long 
as  they  retain  their  independence,  and  earn  or  have  saved 
10s.  a  week  and  upwards,  they  will  be  compelled  to  contribute 
to  the  maintenance  of  others  who  have  an  income  from  the 
State.  Neither  can  the  prospect  of  an  '  improved  Poor  Law ' 
be  of  much  consolation  to  this  class,  the  number  of  which  is 
greater  than  is  usually  realised. 

81.  Again,  it  has  been  held  that  the  prospect  of  a  pension  for 
their  closing  years  disinclines  the  poor  to  make  or  continue  the 
exertions  that  many  of  them  make  at  present  for  their  own 
support,  and  that  the  considerations  which  induce  to  industry  and 
thrift  will  cease  to  operate  in  future.  We  are  unable  to  perceive 
how  these  objections  can  apply  in  the  case  of  the  proposals  for 
which  your  Committee  is  responsible. 

82.  To  encourage  and  to  stimulate  the  poor  by  their  own  exer- 
tions to  keep  off  the  rates  is  by  general  admission  a  most  desirable 
object.  The  non-receipt  of  Poor-law  relief  is  one  of  the  con- 
ditions of  the  Danish  pension  system,  and,  whatever  else  it  may  be 
possible  to  urge  against  that  system,  it  is  certain  from  the  evidence 
of  Mr.  Davy  that  since  it  was  established  the  number  of  recipients 
of  poor  relief  in  Denmark  has  greatly  diminished  ;  and  similar 
results  may  be  naturally  expected  in  thi3  country  from  the 
conditions  of  the  scheme  we  recommend,  in  which  the  non-receipt 
of  poor  relief  is  included,  and  is  indeed  among  the  chief. 

83.  Again,  it  has  to  be  remembered  that,  under  the  scheme  we 
recommend,  membership  of  a  benefit  society  or  evidence  of  some 
other  form  of  thrift  is  to  be  taken  into  account  in  granting 
a  pension,  and  it  seems  to  your  Committee  that,  so  far  from  dis- 
couraging either  industry  or  thrift,  additional  inducements  to 
the  practice  of  those  virtues  are  offered  by  the  proposals  which 
they  make. 

Here,  again,  we  are  on  the  often-debated  question  of 
whether  the  fear  of  destitution  or  a  quasi  State  bonus  upon 
thrift  is  the  more  powerful  incentive  to  thrift.  Mr. 
Chaplin's  Committee  take  one  view ;  but  there  is,  of  course, 
the  other  view,  that  the  knowledge  that  the  State  will  provide 
for  old  age  is  likely  to  diminish  individual  provision.     It  has 

o  2 


84  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

certainly  been  so  in  the  case  of  outdoor  relief.  The  discon- 
tinuance of  outdoor  relief  at  Bradfield  greatly  increased  the 
number  of  people  who  joined  Friendly  Societies.  Again,  it  has 
been  accepted  as  an  axiom  by  the  majority  of  those  who  advo- 
cate Old-Age  Pensions  that  the  system  of  deferred  annuities 
such  as  that  originally  proposed  by  Mr.  Chamberlain  would 
be  inoperative,  because  the  benefit  would  be  'too  remote.' 
How,  then,  would  a  prospect  of  7s.  a  week  at  sixty-five  have 
more  influence  upon  a  young  man  of  twenty-five  as  an 
encouragement  to  save  than  would  a  deferred  annuity  at  the 
same  age  ? 

But  even  assuming  that  the  Committee  are  right,  and  that 
the  bonus  would  have  the  desired  effect  of  encouraging  thrift, 
what  is  the  amount  of  thrift  that  the  Committee  consider 
necessary  in  order  to  receive  the  bonus  ?  We  have  already 
seen  that  the  providence  clause  is  absolutely  vague  and  inde- 
finite, and  would  be  interpreted  in  half  a  dozen  different 
ways  by  half  a  dozen  different  pension  authorities — in  fact 
that,  as  a  test,  it  is  absolutely  nugatory. 

It  should  be  noted  that  the  so-called  decrease  of  poor 
relief  in  Denmark  is  only  nominal,  and  is  due  to  the  transfer 
from  one  fund  to  another.  The  total  amount  of  actual  poor 
relief  has  greatly  increased. 

84.  The  injurious  effect  of  any  pension  scheme  on  the  rate  of 
wages  has  also  been  suggested  as  an  objection  to  the  system,  but 
the  amount  of  labour  which  would  be  affected  by  a  pension 
scheme  after  the  age  of  sixty-five  is  so  comparatively  small  that 
we  do  not  attach  very  serious  importance  to  this  objection. 

It  may  be,  as  the  Committee  say,  that  the  amount  of 
labour  which  would  be  affected  would  be  small.  They  give, 
however,  no  figures  or  statistics  which  would  enable  us  to 
judge  as  to  its  extent,  and  they  do  not  appear  to  have  taken 
any  evidence  as  to  this.  They  ignore  altogether  the  argument 
that  wages  during  working  life  should  be  sufficient  not  only  to 
support  a  man  during  his  working  life  but  also  to  enable  him 


AGED   AND   DESERVING   POOR  85 

to  provide  for  old  age,  and  that  if  the  responsibility  for  old  age 
is  taken  over  by  the  State  the  wage  payment  during  working 
life  will  tend  pro  tanto  to  fall.  To  quote  the  words  of  Lord 
Eothschild's  Committee  : — 

62.  Will  a  State-aided  pension  system  affect  the  wage-rate  ? 
It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  earnings  of  the  workman  dependent 
on  wages  have  to  provide  for  his  support  not  only  during  the 
period  of  his  actual  employment,  but  also  for  the  age  when  be  is 
past  work,  and  that  this  consideration  affects  the  rate  of  his  wages. 
But  if  the  whole,  or  a  part,  of  the  cost  of  supporting  him  when  past 
work  is  undertaken  by  the  State,  the  portion  of  the  wage  applicable 
to  this  service  ceases  to  be  an  essential,  and,  whenever  the  com- 
petition for  employment  is  keen,  the  wage  payment  will  tend  to  fall 
by  a  percentage  approximating  to  that  contributed  by  the  State  to 
the  pension  fund. 

With  regard  to  the  actual  question  of  competition  in  the 
labour  market  by  those  in  receipt  of  pensions  it  should  be 
noted  that  the  friendly  societies  prohibit  those  who  are  in 
receipt  of  old-age  pay  from  doing  any  work,  .and  many  would 
prefer  to  accept  the  opinion  of  the  Friendly  Societies  upon  a 
question  to  which  they  have  given  every  consideration. 

85.  It  has  also  been  objected  by  various  witnesses,  and  their 
objections  were  endorsed  by  the  Aberdare  Commission  and  also  by 
the  Rothschild  Committee,  that  adequate  investigation  into  the 
past  history,  character,  and  position  (financial  or  otherwise)  of  the 
applicants  for  pensions  would  be  impracticable  ;  but  those  who 
have  taken  this  objection  do  not  seem  to  recognise  the  work  of  the 
Charity  Commissioners,  or  the  pension  schemes  which,  under  their 
auspices,  are  in  operation  at  the  present  time. 

It  has  already  been  pointed  out  that  the  pension  schemes 
of  the  Charity  Commissioners  involve  a  sum  of  about 
£300,000  only,  and  that  Sir  Henry  Longley's  evidence  by  no 
means  justifies  the  conclusion  that  even  that  small  sum  is  in 
all  cases  satisfactorily  administered.  The  present  writer  has 
not  had  the  opportunity  of  seeing  much  of  the  administration 
of  endowed  charities  by  local  trustees,  but  amongst  the  few 


86  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

cases  of  which  he  has  cognisance  is  one  in  which  certain 
trustees  have  for  some  years  past  been  pensioning  an  old 
couple  who  are  clearly  not  married.  He  expresses  no  opinion 
as  to  whether  the  case  is  a  suitable  one  for  a  pension  or  not. 
The  point  he  wishes  to  emphasise  is  that  the  local  trustees 
had  apparently  made  no  inquiry  in  the  matter. 

The  main  argument  heretofore  of  those  who  have  advo- 
cated a  line  of  demarcation  between  charitable  and  Poor-law 
relief  has  been  that  in  the  case  of  charitable  relief  inquiry  is 
possible  because  the  volume  of  relief  is  comparatively  small, 
and  the  administrators  free  from  any  electoral  bias  or  pressure. 
This  is,  however,  a  consideration  which  apparently  has  no 
weight  with  Mr.  Chaplin's  Committee  : — 

86.  If  it  be  possible  to  ascertain  the  merits  and  deserts  of 
candidates  for  pensions  under  the  schemes  of  the  Charity  Com- 
missioners in  England,  and  this  is  what  is  done  and  done  successfully 
at  present,  we  are  unable  to  admit  that  a  similar  process  may  not 
be  successfully  repeated  on  a  larger  scale  by  the  means  which  we 
propose.  » # 

It  has  already  been  pointed  out  that  the  amount  available 
for  pensions  under  the  scheme  of  the  Charity  Commissioners 
is  about  £300,000  (€266,267),  and  that  the  success  is  only  a 
success  '  on  the  whole,  considering  the  size  of  the  scheme,'  and 
subject  to  certain  important  reservations. 

But  there  are  other  objections  which  have  been  raised  by 
the  previous  bodies  of  inquiry  which  Mr.  Chaplin's  Committee 
pass  over  in  silence.  Possibly  they  do  not  consider  them 
'  main  objections.' 

First  of  all  there  is  the  question  of  expense.  As  to  this 
they  say  : — 

58.  We  have  thought  it  to  be  our  duty  to  report,  if  possible,  upon 
the  questions  directly  committed  to  us  during  the  present  Session, 
and  it  has  therefore  been  impossible  for  us,  witbin  the  means  and 
the  time  at  our  disposal,  to  arrive  at  any  estimate,  which  can  in 
any  way  be  relied  on,  either  as  to  the  number  of  applicants  who 
would  be  eligible  for  pensions  or  as  to  the  cost  that  the  pensions 


AGED   AND   DESERVING   POOR  87 

would  entail.  It  is  to  be  observed,  moreover,  that  the  instruction 
to  Lord  Rothschild's  Committee  to  have  '  special  regard  to  the  cost 
and  probable  financial  result  to  the  Exchequer  and  the  local  rates 
of  any  scheme  they  might  suggest '  was  not  included  in  the  reference 
to  this  Committee.  We  think,  however,  that  this  branch  of  the 
subject  should  be  further  investigated  during  the  recess  by  competent 
experts  on  the  basis  of  the  proposal  that  we  recommend. 

This  at  least  is  hardly  reassuring. 

Lord  Rothschild's    Committee,  speaking    of  Sir  Spencer 
Walpole's  scheme,  which  contained  limitations  and  conditions 
•  very   similar   to    those  suggested  by  the  Select   Committee, 
say:— 

These  limitations  cannot  be  expected  long  to  survive,  seeing 
that  the  principle  on  which  they  rest  is  not  one  generally  accepted, 
or  indeed  capable  of  exact  definition.  The  limit  of  age  and 
pensioner's  contribution  will  probably  be  forced  down,  and  the  rate 
of  pension  forced  up,  till  the  cost  approaches  that  of  Mr.  Charles 
Booth's  proposals  for  universal  pensions  without  the  advantages 
which  are  claimed  for  that  scheme. 

This  want  of  finality  is  the  point  upon  which  those  who 
regard  with  apprehension  any  departure  from  the  established 
principles  of  State  relief  most  strongly  insist.  We  have  under 
the  existing  Poor  Law  the  well-defined  principle  that  the  duty 
of  the  State  is  confined  to  the  relief  of  destitution.  But,  as 
the  development  of  this  agitation  for  State  Pensions  already 
clearly  shows,  there  is  no  half-way  house.  Mr.  Booth  him- 
self has  stated  that  he  is  willing  to  accept  any  of  the  limited 
schemes  '  as  an  instalment.' 

Another  objection  that  has  been  raised,  but  which  is  ignored 
by  the  Select  Committee,  is  that  when  an  income  limit  is 
fixed,  apart  from  the  difficulty  of  ascertaining  the  exact 
income  which  is  well  known  to  all  Poor-law  administrators, 
there  is  the  further  difficulty  that  those  who  are  just  outside 
the  income  limit  are  disqualified.  A  man  who  had  saved 
enough  to  provide  him  with   10s.  a  week  would  receive  a 


88  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

pension — a  man  who  had  saved  enough  to  provide  him  with 
lis.  a  week  would  be  excluded.  Lord  Eothschild's  Com- 
mittee say  of  this  : — 

61.  Take  the  question  of  thrift.  No  evidence  given  before  the 
Royal  Commission  on  the  Aged  Poor  was  more  conclusive  than 
ihat  which  related  to  the  enormous  and  rapidly  increasing  amount 
of  the  accumulated  savings  of  the  working  clashes.  It  showed  that 
to  industry,  intelligence,  and  self-denial  the  way  to  an  independent 
position  lies  open,  and  that  a  constantly  increasing  number  of 
individuals  among  the  working  classes  are  finding  it.  Yet  to  each 
of  these  the  advocates  of  State  aid  must  say,  '  If  you  relax  the 
exercise  of  the  qualities  which  lead  you  to  success,  if  you  limit  the 
provision  for  your  old  age  to  what  will  give  you  an  allowance  of 
(say)  2s.  6cl.  a  week,  the  State  will  come  to  your  assistance  with  an 
equal  amount ;  but  if  you  succeed  in  making  yourself  really 
independent  in  old  age,  you  will  receive  nothing  from  the  State, 
while  you  will  still  have  to  contribute  through  taxation  towards  the 
provision  of  pensions  for  those  who  have  not  cared  to  make 
sacrifices  as  great  as  your  own.'  The  considerations  thus  sug- 
gested will,  at  best,  encourage  the  exercise  of  thrift  only  to  a  limited 
degree. 

Numerous  other  objections  which  have  been  raised  by 
competent  authorities  and  which  would  apply  to  this  scheme 
have  been  ignored  by  the  Committee.  It  is  impossible  to  deal 
with  them  in  full,  and  they  can  only  be  enumerated. 
There  is,  for  instance,  the  question  of  the  cost  of  administra- 
tion, and  whether  the  scheme  would  lead  to  members  of 
friendly  societies  drawing  sick  pay  longer  than  they  otherwise 
would,  the  question  of  fraud  and  personation,  the  question 
of  how  to  deal  with  those  who  spent  their  pension  immediately 
upon  its  receipt  and  again  became  destitute.  In  short,  whilst  it 
can  hardly  be  said  that  a  satisfactory  answer  has  been  given 
to  any  one  of  the  objections  which  the  Committee  themselves 
recognise  as  '  main  objections,'  at  the  same  time  there  are  a 
large  number  of  objections  which  some  consider  of  extreme 
importance  but  which  the  Select  Committee  ignore  altogether. 


AGED   AND   DESERVING   POOR  89 

The  report  of  the  Committee  has  been  received  very 
frigidly,  and  the  fact  that  not  a  voice  has  been  heard  in  its 
support  suggests  that  even  its  authors  have  no  very  great 
belief  in  it.  It  is  significant  that  Mr.  Lecky,  certainly  not  the 
least  eminent  member  of  the  Committee,  disagreed  with  the 
report  in  toto,  and  has  published  a  separate  report  of  his  own. 

In  short,  this,  which  is,  roughly  speaking,  the  131st  scheme 
for  Old-Age  Pensions,  considered  by  an  officially  constituted 
body  the  only  one  which  has  received  the  sanction  of  a 
majority  of  such  a  body,  may  be  said  to  have  pleased  nobody. 

W.  A.  B. 


90  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 


IX 

EEPOET  OF  THE  COMMITTEE  APPOINTED  TO 
CONSIDEB  THE  FINANCIAL  ASPECTS  OF 
THE  PROPOSALS  OF  THE  SELECT  COM- 
MITTEE 

Since  the  preceding  '  criticism '  was  written  a  Depart- 
mental Committee,  consisting  of  Sir  E.  W.  Hamilton,  K.C.B., 
E.  W.  Brabrook,  Esq.,  C.B.,  S.  B.  Provis,  Esq.,  C.B.,  and 
Noel  A.  Humphreys,  Esq.,  has  been  appointed  to  consider  the 
financial  aspects  of  the  proposals  made  by  Mr.  Chaplin's 
Committee,  and  issued  its  report  upon  January  9,  1900. 

The  Departmental  Committee  preface  their  report  with 
these  words : — 

3.  We  have  endeavoured  to  the  best  of  our  ability  to  comply 
with  the  instructions  given  to  us  ;  but  we  may  say  at  the  outset  that 
we  entered  upon  our  inquiries,  and  we  now  submit  the  results  of 
them,  with  great  diffidence,  owing  to  the  want  of  actual  facts  and 
of  accurate  statistics  bearing  on  many  of  the  points  which  the 
recommendations  of  the  Select  Committee  raise.  We  have  thus 
been  obliged  to  resort,  more  often  than  not,  to  assumptions  ;  and 
these  must  in  some  cases,  we  frankly  admit,  be  open  to  question. 

Their  method  of  procedure  was  to  institute  an  inquiry  in 
selected  unions  as  to  the  number  of  people  who  were  over 
sixty-five  years  of  age,  their  weekly  incomes,  how  their 
incomes  when  not  exceeding  20s.  a  week  were  derived,  whether 
they  could  adduce  some  definite  proof  of  thrift,  whether  they 
were  or  had  been  in  receipt  of  Poor-law  relief. 


FINANCIAL   ASPECTS   OF   SELECT   COMMITTEE'S   PROPOSALS   01 

They  then  summarise  the  scheme  of  the  Select  Committee 
as  follows : — 

THE  SELECT  COMMITTEE'S  SCHEME. 

8.  We  now  proceed  to  summarise  the  scheme  which  was  framed 
by  the  Select  Committee.  The  qualifications  which  they  prescribed 
as  constituting  eligibility  for  pensions,  in  the  case  of  women  as  well 
as  men,  whether  married  or  unmarried,  were  seven  in  number,  which 
may  briefly  be  stated  as  follows  : 

(1.)  British  nationality. 

(2.)  Attainment  of  the  age  of  sixty-five. 

(3.)  Absence  of  conviction  for  any  serious  offence  between 
the  ages  of  forty-five  and  sixty-five. 

(4.)  Non-receipt  of  Poor-law  relief  (other  than  medical 
relief)  during  the  twenty  years  preceding  the  application  for  a 
pension,  unless  under  circumstances  of  a  wholly  exceptional 
character. 

(5.)  Residence  within  a  given  district. 

(6.)  Non-possession  of  an  income  (from  any  source)  of  more 
than  10s.  a  week. 

(7.)  Proved  industry  or  proved  exercise  of  reasonable  provi- 
dence by  some  definite  mode  of  thrift. 

9.  To  all  those  who  fulfilled  these  qualifications  to  the  satisfac- 
tion of  the  pension  authority,  that  authority,  composed  in  part  of 
guardians  of  the  poor,  was  to  award  pensions  of  not  less  than  5s.  a 
week  (i.e.  £J13  per  annum),  or  more  than  7s.  a  week  (i.e.  £18  per 
annum),  according  to  the  cost  of  living  in  the  locality  ;  the  award 
being  made  for  not  less  than  three  years  and  renewable  thereafter, 
but  liable  at  any  time  to  be  withdrawn.  The  cost  of  the  pensions 
was  to  be  borne  by  the  common  fund  to  the  union,  to  which  the 
Exchequer  would  contribute  not  more  than  half  the  total  pension 
charge  ;  such  contribution  being  allocated,  not  in  proportion  to  the 
amount  of  the  awards,  but  on  a  basis  of  population. 

10.  We  propose  to  consider  successively  each  of  the  prescribed 
qualifications. 

1.  British  Nationality. 

The  Committee  estimate  the  number  who  will  be  dis- 
qualified under  this  head  at  7,250. 


92 


OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 


2.  Number  of  Persons  of  the  Age  of  Sixty-five  and 
upwards. 

The  Committee  did  not  confine  themselves  to  an  estimate 
of  the  number  of  persons  of  the  age  of  sixty-five  and  upwards 
at  the  date  of  the  inquiry.     They  say  : — 

16.  In  making  an  estimate  of  the  number  of  persons  in  the 
United  Kingdom  who  are  sixty-five  years  of  age  and  upwards,  we 
conceive  that  we  ought  to  endeavour  to  compute  not  only  the 
number  of  persons  who,  under  such  a  scheme  as  that  propounded 
by  the  Select  Committee,  would  be  qualified  as  regards  age  to  receive 
a  pension  on  the  introduction  of  the  scheme,  but  also  the  number 
of  persons  who  are  likely  to  be  qualified  during  an  appreciable 
period  after  the  scheme  has  been  in  operation.  For  the  initial 
cost  of  a  scheme  mainly  affected  by  population  is  no  necessary 
criterion  of  its  ultimate  cost. 

17.  In  our  attempts,  then,  to  forecast  the  number  of  persons 
who  would  be  pensionable  (other  conditions  being  fulfilled),  we  shall 
not  only  take  the  year  1901,  which  we  regard  as  our  starting-point 
(because  no  scheme  could  be  brought  into  effect  before  that  year),  but 
also  the  next  two  decennial  periods  ending  in  1911  and  1921,  thus 
bringing  the  forecast  into  line  with  the  census  years.  We  shall 
likewise  include  in  our  estimates  of  the  aged  poor  the  year  1899, 
because  we  shall  have  to  assume  that  some  of  the  data  relating  to 
this  year  will,  by  analogy,  be  applicable  to  future  years. 

Following  out  their  calculations  upon  this  basis,  their 
estimates  of  the  probable  number  of  persons  of  sixty-five  and 
upwards  are  as  follows  : — 

England  and  Wales. 


Year. 

Males. 

Females. 

Total. 

1899 
1901 
1911 

No. 
644,000 
660,000 
746,000 
850,000 

No. 

836,000 

857,000 

970,000 

1,097,000 

No. 
1,480,000 
1,517,000 
1,716,000 
1,947.000 

FINANCIAL   ASPECTS   OF   SELECT   COMMITTEES   PROPOSALS   98 


Scotland. 


Ireland. 


Year. 

Males. 

No. 

88,000 

90,000 

101,000 

114,000 

Females. 

Total 

1899 
1901 
1911 

No. 
129,000 
131,000 
144,000 
154,000 

No. 
217,000 
221,000 
245,000 
268,000 

Year. 

Males 

No. 
138,000 
136,000 
132,000 
123,000 

Females. 

Total. 

1899         .                  .... 

1901 

1911 

1921 

No.                         No. 
144,000             282,000 
142,000             278,000 
138,000            270,000 
129,000             252,000 

3.  Absence  of  Conviction  for  Crime. 

They"  then  proceed  to  consider  the  disqualifications  pro- 
posed by  the  scheme  of  Mr.  Chaplin's  Committee,  the  first  of 
which  is  absence  of  conviction  for  offence  between  the  ages 
of  forty-five  and  sixty-five.     As  to  this  they  say  : — 

26.  The  textual  definition  of  this  condition  is  that  no  person 
would  be  eligible  for  a  pension  who  has  '  within  the  last  twenty 
years  been  convicted  of  an  offence  and  sentenced  to  penal  servitude 
or  imprisonment  without  the  option  of  a  fine.' 

27.  The  persons  annually  convicted  in  the  three  divisions  of 
the  United  Kingdom  can  be  classified  in  respect  of  age.  But 
persons  imprisoned  without  the  option  of  a  fine  are  not  separated 
in  the  statistics  from  the  total  number  convicted  as  regards  age ; 
and,  therefore,  they  can  only  be  classified  in  the  same  proportions 
as  the  total  number  of  convicts. 


A  '  hypothetical '  classification  is  given  in  a  table,  subject 
to  many  qualifications,  and  the  estimate  arrived  at  is  that 
22,049  would  be  excluded  under  this  head. 


94  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

4.  Non-receipt  of  Parish  Relief. 

As  applicants  for  a  pension  would  have  to  show  that  they 
had  not  for  a  considerable  time  previously  been  in  receipt  of 
parish  relief,  except  in  cases  of  illness  or  under  circumstances 
of  a  wholly  exceptional  character — 

we  take  it  for  granted  that  all  persons  who  may,  on  the  intro- 
duction of  the  proposed  pension  scheme,  be  found  to  be  sixty-five 
years  of  age  and  upwards,  and  to  be  wholly  or  partly  chargeable  to 
the  ratepayers,  would  a  fortiori  be  debarred  from  making  appli- 
cation to  the  pension  authority.  But  we  imagine  that  it  might  be 
by  no  means  easy  to  defend  the  exclusion  of  those  aged  paupers 
who  could  give  reasonable  proof  that,  had  they  not  had  the 
misfortune  to  pass  the  Rubicon  in  '  pre-pensionable '  days,  they 
would  have  been  able  to  satisfy  the  requirements  of  the  pension 
authority. 

The  Committee,  in  estimating  the  probable  number  of 
persons  who  would  be  disqualified  by  the  receipt  of  Poor-law 
relief,  point  out  that  they  are  dependent  upon  two  Parlia- 
mentary Returns,  known  as  Mr.  Burt's  Return  and  Mr. 
Ritchie's  Return  respectively.  The  former  is  based  upon  a 
day's  count,  the  latter  not  only  upon  a  day's  count  but  upon 
a  year's  count.  '  They  bring  out  very  different  results,'  and 
are  represented  by  18'7  and  26-7  per  cent,  respectively. 

The  Committee  compute  the  deductions  under  this  head 
at  27  per  cent,  for  England  and  Wales,  16  per  cent,  for  Scot- 
land, and  25  per  cent,  for  Ireland. 

5.  Residence. 

With  regard  to  this  qualification  the  Committee  '  venture 
to  hazard  the  opinion '  that  the  number  of  persons  who  will 
fail  to  comply  with  the  residential  qualification  may  be  re- 
garded as  a  negligible  quality. 

6.  Non-jiossession  of  an  Income  of  more  than  10s.  a  iccek. 
For  their  information  upon  this  head  the  Committee  are 


FINANCIAL  ASPECTS   OF   SELECT   COMMITTEE'S   PROPOSALS   95 

dependent  upon  statements  made  by  people  themselves    in 
reply  to  the  enumerators. 

England  and  Wales. 

Inquiry  was    made   of    12,431    aged   persons    with    the 
following  result : — 


(a)  The  number  of  aged  persons  who  returned  their  incomes 
at  over  10s.  a  week  (columns  9  and  10)  was  (2293  + 
1462)  =  

(J)  The  number  of  those  who  declared  that  their  incomes  were 
10s.  a  week  only  or  less  (column  11)  was 

(<■)  The  number  of  those  who,  while  declining  to  state  the 
amount  of  their  incomes,  owned  to  being  maintained 
by  relations  and  friends  (column  12)  was 

(d)  The  number  of  those  who  refused  to  give  any  information 
respecting  their  means  (column  13)  was 

Total       . 


3,755 
5,538 

2,086 
1,052 


12,431 


54.  We  propose  to  assume  that  those  who  declined  to  state  the 
amount  of  their  incomes  but  owned  to  being  maintained  by  rela- 
tions or  friends  were  persons  of  slender  means,  or  at  any  rate 
would  probably  become  pensionable,  because  the  assistance  of 
relations  or  friends  would,  on  the  establishment  of  a  pension  scheme, 
presumably  fall  off. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  Committee  are  of  opinion 
that  the  institution  of  State  pensions  will  lead  to  the  discon- 
tinuance of  help  from  friends  and  relations. 

The  conclusion  of  the  Committee  is  that  63  per  cent,  would 
become  qualified  under  the  income  limit  in  England  and 
Wales. 

Scotland. 

In  Scotland  they  estimate  the  percentage  at  68  per  cent. 
The  inquiry  made  was  similar  to  that  in  England  and  Wales. 


Ireland. 

In  Ireland  the  conditions  are  materially  different.     No 
house-to-house  '  inquiry  was  made,  and  the  Committee  take 


96  OLD-AGE    PENSIONS 

their  figures  from  the  rough  estimates  prepared  by  the  Local 
Government  Board  of  Ireland. 

Though  these  figures  show  comparatively  favourable 
results  as  compared  with  those  for  England  and  Wales  and 
Scotland,  the  Committee  '  do  not  think  it  would  be  right  to 
assume  that  there  would  be  proportionately  fewer  pensionable 
people  in  Ireland  for  the  following  reasons  :  ' — 

68.  In  the  first  place,  in  the  figures  relating  to  England,  the 
line  of  demarcation  is  drawn  between  (a)  those  who  have  more,  and 
(b)  those  who  have  no  more  than  10s.  a  week,  which  was  the  line 
proposed  by  the  Select  Committee  ;  whereas  in  the  statistical  state- 
ment relating  to  Ireland  the  line  is  drawn  between  (a)  those  who 
have  less  than  10s.  a  week,  and  (b)  those  who  have  10s.  or  more. 
In  other  words,  those  with  exactly  10s.  a  week,  of  whom  there  may 
be  not  a  few,  are  placed  in  the  lower  category  for  England  and  in 
the  upper  category  for  Ireland. 

69.  In  the  second  place,  the  conditions  of  life  among  the  lower 
classes  in  Ireland  differ  materially  from  those  in  England.  In 
Ireland,  unlike  England,  there  are  numbers  of  small  peasant  pro- 
prietors and  of  cottiers  and  labourers  occupying  diminutive  holdings. 
Many  of  these  may  be  worth  10s.  a  week  or  more,  because  the  net 
cash  profits  which  they  derive  from  the  soil  and  the  value  of  the 
produce  which  they  consume  at  home  would  amount  to  more  than 
that  weekly  sum.  These  persons  remain  in  occupation  of  their 
holdings  until  they  die  ;  and  therefore,  however  old  and  decrepit 
they  may  become,  they  would  still  be  credited  with  the  profits  and 
produce.  The  corresponding  aged  and  decrepit  in  England  might 
be  dependent  wholly  on  the  parish  or  their  relations.  It  may, 
however,  be  confidently  assumed  that  the  aged  peasant  proprietors 
and  legal  tenants  in  Ireland  would,  in  order  to  qualify  for  pensions, 
make  over  their  interests  in  the  land  to  their  children,  whom  they 
nominally  support,  although  probably  more  often  than  not  the 
children,  by  working  the  family  holding,  really  support  the 
parents. 

70.  For  these  reasons  we  do  not  think  that  we  should  be  right 
to  assume  that  there  would  be  proportionately  fewer  pensionable 
people  in   Ireland   than  in   England   on  account  of  their  having 


FINANCIAL  ASPECTS   OF   SELECT   COMMITTEES   PROPOSALS   97 

incomes  in  excess  of  the  prescribed  limit.  Accordingly,  we  shall 
consider  that  the  same  proportion  would  be  disqualified  on  this 
account  in  Ireland,  viz.  37  per  cent,  (see  paragraph  58). 

7.  Proved  Industry  or  proved  exercise  of  reasonable  Providence 
by  some  definite  mode  of  Thrift. 

As  to  this  the  Committee  say : — 

71.  It  is  important  to  note  the  actual  words  in  which  the  Select 
Committee  refer  to  this  qualification.  They,  first  of  all,  define  the 
requirement  to  be  that  a  person  applying  for  a  pension  must  satisfy 
the  pension  authority  that  he  (the  applicant)  '  has  endeavoured  to 
the  best  of  his  ability,  by  his  industry  or  by  the  exercise  of  reasonable 
providence,  to  make  provision  for  himself  and  those  immediately 
dependent  upon  him.'  The  Committee  then  go  on  to  say  how,  in 
their  opinion,  '  the  exercise  of  reasonable  providence '  should  be 
interpreted.  They  '  think  that  the  (pension)  authority  should  be 
bound  to  take  into  consideration  whether,  and  how  far,  it  has  been 
shown,  either  by  membership  of  a  benefit  society  for  a  period  of 
years  or  by  the  endeavour  of  the  applicant  to  make  some  provision 
for  his  own  support  by  means  of  savings  or  investments  or  some 
other  definite  mode  of  thrift.'  '  Exercise  of  reasonable  providence,' 
as  thus  defined,  and  governed  by  the  words  '  to  the  best  of  his 
ability,'  is  a  comprehensive  term  if  it  stood  by  itself.  But  it  is 
accompanied  with  another  term  capable  of  being  interpreted  with 
still  greater  latitude — '  industry.' 

The  test  census  only  showed  a  percentage  of  6*7  of  recorded 
cases  avowedly  connected  with  benefit  societies,  and  that  if  the 
number  of  these  who  owned  to  having  an  income  from  other 
sources  were  added  the  tota.l  '  actual  admissions  of  presum- 
able thrift  would  barely  exceed  25  per  cent.  '  This  is  not 
surprising,'  they  add ;  '  there  is  nothing  that  people  are  more 
reluctant  to  do  than  to  disclose  their  savings.' 

The  Committee  conclude  as  follows : — 

85.  Taking,  therefore,  one  thing  with  another,  and  having 
regard  to  the  striking  testimony  which  the  hypothetical  figures  bear 

H 


98  .  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

to  thrift  generally  among  the  poorer  classes,  we  think  it  is  most 
probable  that  comparatively  few  persons  who  succeeded  in  satisfying 
the  pension  authority  under  the  first  six  heads  laid  down  by  the 
Select  Committee  would  be  unable  to  adduce  some  proof  of  compliance 
with  the  seventh  qualification.  And  we  believe  that  probability 
becomes  almost  a  certainty  when  '  industry  '  is  held  to  constitute 
eligibility  as  well  as  '  reasonable  providence.'  Indeed,  it  seems 
only  fair  and  just  to  assume  that,  if  persons  who  are  left  at  the 
age  of  sixty-five  with  such  slender  means  as  10s.  a  week — (and  in 
many  cases  less,  and  much  less,  than  10s.  a  week) — have  succeeded 
in  keeping  off  the  union  throughout  the  preceding  twenty  years,  the 
bulk  of  them  must  during  their  working  lives  have  been  '  industrious  ' 
or  have  exercised  'reasonable  providence,'  whether  at  the  pension- 
able age  they  can  or  cannot  adduce  direct  proof  of  being  members 
of  benefit  societies  or  depositors  in  saving  banks.  In  other  words, 
it  is  tolerably  certain  that  the  lazy  and  improvident  folk  among  the 
working  classes  will,  by  the  time  that  they  have  reached  the  age  of 
sixty-five,  have  frequently  had  resort  to  Poor-law  relief,  or  else 
have  found  their  way  to  the  workhouse. 

86.  We  submit,  then,  that,  when  all  persons  who  have  been  or 
are,  partly  or  wholly,  constantly  or  casually,  dependent  on  the  rates, 
are  rejected  as  ineligible  for  pensions,  very  nearly  full  account 
will  have  been  taken  of  those  wbo  would  fail  to  fulfil  in  one  way 
or  another  the  seventh  qualification ;  and  that  an  arbitrary 
deduction  of  10  per  cent,  from  the  residuum  should  be  an  ample — 
possibly  a  too  ample — allowance  for  inability  to  prove  industry  or 
thrift. 

Estimate  of  the  Immediate  Cost  op  the  Scheme  on  the 
Assumption  that  the  Pensionable  Age  is  fixed  at 
Sixty-five. 

The  Committee  estimate  the  immediate  cost  of  the  scheme 
at  £9,976,000  for  pensions,  and  £299,000  for  cost  of  adminis- 
tration, at  the  rate  of  3  per  cent. 

With  regard  to  the  latter  point  they  add  an  important 
note : — 

We  ought  perhaps  to  state  that  the  expenses  of  management 
incurred  by  friendly  societies  are   considerably  in  excess  of  this 


FINANCIAL  ASPECTS   OF   SELECT   COMMITTEE'S   PROPOSALS   90 

percentage,  though  a  great  part  of  their  work  is  voluntary  and 
unpaid.  Indeed,  according  to  the  returns  made  to  the  Registrar  by 
a  large  number  of  ordinary  friendly  societies,  those  expenses  in 
1897  averaged  Is.  dd.  in  the  £  of  their  total  receipts,  and  as  much 
as  12^  per  cent,  of  the  actual  benefits  received  ;  while  the  expenses 
of  the  affiliated  orders,  which  have  a  more  complete  organisation, 
are  proportionately  about  twice  as  much.  If  judged  by  this  analogy, 
oar  estimate  of  expenses  for  administering  a  pension  scheme  would 
appear  to  be  insufficient. 

Estimate  of  the  Ultimate  Cost  of  the  Scheme. 


Year 

England 
and  Wales 

£ 

Scotland 

Ireland 

United 
Kingdom 

£ 

£ 

£ 

1901  . 

7,550,000 

1,400,000 

1,350,000 

10,300,000 

(par  99.) 

(par.  102.) 

(par.  104.) 

1911  . 

9,600.000 

1,600,000 

1,450,000 

12,650,000 

(par.  112.) 

(par.  115.) 

(par.  119.) 

1921  . 

12,300,000 

1,850,000 

1,500,000 

15,650,000 

(par.  113  ) 

(par.  116.) 

(par.  120.) 

The  concluding  remarks  of  the  Committee  are  given  in 
full  :— 

156.  In  thus  summarising  the  results  of  our  investigations,  we 
ought  to  say  that,  though  we  have  felt  bound  to  frame  the  estimates 
in  accordance  with  the  well-known  rule  that  all  estimates  of 
liabilities  should  err  (if  at  all)  on  the  side  of  being  rather  over 
than  under  the  mark,  we  have  also  been  anxious  to  avoid  giving  an 
unduly  magnified  idea  of  the  cost  which  the  scheme  of  the  Select 
Committee,  or  modifications  of  it,  would  involve.  We  are  most 
conscious  that  our  conclusions,  founded  mainly  on  hypothesis,  or 
rather  on  a  series  of  hypotheses,  are  open  to  criticism.  It  will,  no 
doubt,  be  thought  that  we  have  attributed  too  much  to  some  of 
the  causes  directly  affecting  the  cost,  and  not  enough  to  others. 
One  error,  however,  is  apt  to  correct  another  in  problematical 
calculations  ;  and,  therefore,  we  would  fain  believe  that  sufficient 
reliance  may  be  placed  on  the  net  results  to  give  Her  Majesty's 

h  2 


100  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

Government  a  fairly  approximate  idea  of  the  financial  aspects  of 
the  questions  raised  in  the  Keport  from  the  Select  Committee 
of  1899. 

157.  At  the  same  time,  we  cannot  conceal  from  ourselves  the 
fact  that  there  are  unknown  quantities  which  must  seriously  affect 
our  anticipations. 

158.  There  are  many  persons  whose  incomes  are  just  over  the 
border-line  of  10s.  a  week  ;  and  it  will  be  to  their  advantage  to 
understate  their  receipts.  It  will  equally  be  to  the  advantage  of 
others  to  assign  away  portions  of  their  incomes  or  income-producing 
properties — a  step  to  which  frequent  resort  would,  as  we  have 
already  indicated,  almost  certainly  be  had  in  Ireland.  Indeed,  the 
position  of  anybody  whose  weekly  income  just  exceeded  10s.  would 
be  so  hard  as  to  make  the  retention  of  a  hard-and-fast  line  exceed- 
ingly difficult. 

159.  There  will  be  an  inevitable  tendency  to  reduce  the  wages 
of  aged  present  employees,  as  well  as  the  pensions  of  aged  past 
employees,  when  such  a  reduction  would  benefit  both  employers 
and  employees ;  and  this  would  be  the  case  when  the  receipts  of  the 
aged  persons  slightly  exceeded  the  pensionable  income.  For  similar 
reasons,  the  contributions  of  children  and  other  relations  towards 
the  support  of  old  people  would  infallibly  fall  off. 

160.  Meritorious  poor  people  who  had  not  reached  the  pension- 
able age  would  presumably  be  considered  to  bave  stronger  claims 
on  charitable  funds  than  the  more  aged,  who  would  be  secure  of 
their  pensions  ;  and  consequently  a  large  number  of  old  persons, 
by  losing  the  aid  of  charity,  would  fall  within  the  category  of 
pensioners.  Moreover,  knowing  that  the  aged  deserving  poor 
would  be  provided  for  by  the  pension  scheme,  the  well-to-do 
would  have  less  reason  to  subscribe  to  charities ;  or  if  they 
continued  their  subscriptions,  they  would  be  more  likely  to  concen- 
trate their  efforts  in  helping  persons  to  keep  off  the  rates  during 
the  twenty  years  preceding  the  pensionable  age,  and  thus  increase 
the  number  of  those  who  would  be  able  to  satisfy  the  pension 
authority. 

161.  Again,  it  is  only  too  probable  that  persons  who  might  be 
approaching  the  term  for  applying  to  that  authority,  would    '  make 


FINANCIAL  ASPECTS   OF   SELECT   COMMITTEE'S  PKOPOSALS   10  i 

the  most  of  their  ages  ;  '  while  those  who  had  succeeded  in  satisfy- 
ing the  authority  might  underbid  their  younger  competitors  in 
the  labour  market,  and  a  reduction  of  wages  would  tend  to 
augment  the  number  of  persons  whose  incomes  fell  within  the 
pensionable  limit. 

162.  Lastly,  it  may  reasonably  be  hoped  that,  under  improved 
and  improving  conditions  of  life,  existence  will,  to  some  extent,  be 
longer  in  the  future  than  it  has  been  in  the  past ;  and,  should  that 
expectation  be  realised,  the  calculations  in  Appendix  V.  respecting 
the  aged  populations  would  be  thrown  out. 

163.  These  are  some  of  the  incalculable,  but,  in  our  opinion, 
certain,  results  of  the  establishment  of  a  pension  scheme,  which 
would  all  tend  either  to  bring  down  to  the  pensionable  level  those 
who  are  now  above  it,  or  to  raise  up  to  it  those  who  are  now  below 
it,  and  which  would  thus  swell  the  pensionable  list  from  above  as 
well  as  from  below.  It  is  obviously  impossible  to  measure  in  figures 
the  extent  to  which  these  results  might  affect  the  cost  of  any  such 
scheme,  but  it  seems  safe  to  assume  that  the  extent  would  be  very 
appreciable. 

W.  A.  B. 


102  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 


X 
AGED   DESERVING   POOR  , 

The  following  Draft  Report  was  submitted  by  tbe  Right  Hon. 
W.  E.  H.  Lecky,  MP.,  to  tbe  Special  Committee  of  the  House 
of  Commons  on  the  Aged  Deserving  Poor  (1899)  :— 

'  1.  I  concur  in  the  opinion  expressed  by  the  majority  of 
the  Royal  Commission  presided  over  by  Lord  Aberdare  and 
by  the  Committee  presided  over  by  Lord  Rothschild,  that  no 
one  of  the  schemes  apart  from  the  Poor  Law  that  have  been 
devised  for  the  purpose  of  supporting  out  of  State  funds  the 
aged  and  deserving  poor  can  be  safely  recommended,  and  is 
not  likely  to  produce  greater  evils  than  it  would  cure.  It 
does  not  appear  to  me  that  the  evidence  brought  before  the 
present  Committee  gives  any  reason  for  modifying  this 
conclusion. 

'  2.  There  is,  as  it  seems  to  me,  a  fundamental  and  most 
dangerous  misconception  which  the  term  Old-Age  Pension 
tends  to  accredit.  The  pensions,  largely  of  the  nature  of 
deferred  pay,  given  by  the  State  or  by  private  employers,  for 
specific  services  duly  rendered,  to  those  who  have  been  in 
their  employment  and  under  their  control,  have  no  real  analogy 
to  the  proposed  State  endowment  of  all  old  persons,  or  at 
least  of  all  respectable  old  persons  who,  at  the  close  of  a  life 
of  independent  industry,  find  themselves  insufficiently  provided 
with  the  means  of  livelihood.  Such  an  endowment  drawn 
from  the  taxation  of  the  country  would  be  essentially  of  the 
same  nature  as  Poor-law  relief.  However  much  it  may  be 
disguised  by  other  names,  it  would  be  an  eleemosynary  grant 


AGED   DESERVING  POOR  103 

resting  on  no  foundation  of  natural  right.  There  is  no  real 
ground  for  the  assertion  that  because  an  industrious  man  has 
failed  to  earn  a  sufficiency,  he  has  a  moral  right  to  be  rewarded 
for  his  industry  out  of  the  proceeds  of  a  tax  levied  upon  his 
neighbours  to  whom  he  has  rendered  no  service,  or  none 
which  has  not  been  paid  for  in  wages. 

'  3.  Of  the  various  schemes  that  have  been  proposed,  that 
for  the  universal  endowment  of  all  aged  persons  has  been 
excluded  by  our  references.  Such  a  measure  would  impose 
upon  the  nation  a  perpetual  tax  which  would  certainly  not  be 
less  than  double  the  amount  by  which  the  interest  of  the 
National  Debt  has  been  diminished  since  the  Peace  of  1815, 
and  which  would  inevitably  tend  to  increase.  It  would 
impose  upon  it  an  obligation  from  which,  if  once  undertaken, 
it  would  be  impossible  to  recede  without  producing  a  terrible 
catastrophe  ;  which  would  even  now  be  tremendously  heavy, 
and  which,  if  a  great  war  again  added  largely  to  our  debt, 
or  if  some  serious  trade  vicissitude  diminished  our  resources, 
might  easily  become  absolutely  overwhelming  ;  and  it  would 
do  so  in  order  to  attain  an  end  which  would  probably  be 
much  more  mischievous  than  the  reverse.  I  can  hardly  con- 
ceive anything  more  certain  to  discourage  thrift  and  to  sap 
the  robuster  qualities  of  the  English  people  than  that  the 
belief  should  grow  up  among  the  whole  working  population, 
including  the  most  industrious,  the  most  respectable,  and  the 
most  independent,  that  they  should  look  forward  to  the  State 
and  not  to  their  own  exertions  to  support  them  during  their 
old  age.  A  very  large  number  of  resolutions  have  been 
brought  before  us  by  different  associations,  urging  that 
pensions  should  be  granted  to  all  aged  poor  without  any  con- 
tribution on  their  own  part  or  any  test  of  thrift,  and  many 
of  them  desire  that  this  pension  should  be  granted  as  early 
as  the  age  of  sixty.     (Appendix  No.  4.) 

'  4.  The  more  reasonable  and  moderate  proposals  are 
those  intended  to  distinguish  the  thrifty  from  the  thriftless, 
and  to  place  a  premium  on  thrift  by  granting  a  pension  to  all 


104  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

deserving  old  persons  who  by  their  own  industry  had  earned 
for  themselves  a  small,  though  insufficient,  income,  or  who 
had  subscribed  steadily  to  a  friendly  society  or  to  some  other 
society  intended  to  provide  against  sickness  or  old  age.  The 
age  at  which  this  pension  should  be  granted  is  generally  placed 
at  sixty-five.  According  to  some  schemes  the  State  should 
double  the  annuity  which  such  persons  had  earned  for  them- 
selves, or  should  add  to  it  sufficient  to  make  it  10s.  a  week. 
According  to  others  it  should  make  a  fixed  grant  of  2s.  6d.,  or 
5s.  or  7s.  a  week. 

'  5.  Schemes  of  this  description  would  impose  on  the 
community  a  tax  which,  though  very  heavy,  would  be  much 
less  than  a  scheme  of  universal  pensions,  but  the  objections 
to  them  are  very  formidable.  It  is  not  desired  by  their 
authors  to  give  a  pension  to  those  who  do  not  want  it.  The 
proposed  qualification  is  a  small  and  defined  income,  and,  if 
these  schemes  encouraged  the  thrift  which  was  necessary  to 
attain  that  income,  they  would  have  a  directly  opposite  effect 
once  it  was  reached,  as  the  first  result  of  increasing  his  income 
would  be  to  disqualify  a  man  for  a  pension.  After  the  age 
of  sixty-five,  again,  very  little  work  would  be  done.  Though 
men  of  that  age  are  usually  unfit  for  the  severer  kinds  of 
labour,  there  is  much  labour,  both  in  agriculture  and  in  other 
departments  of  industry,  for  which  they  are  fully  capable. 
It  is  for  their  own  interest,  and  for  the  interest  of  the  com- 
munity, that  they  should  continue  in  them ;  but  a  fixed 
Government  pension  would,  under  any  circumstances,  greatly 
diminish  their  motives  for  doing  so,  and  according  to  some 
proposals  the  pensioner  should  be  absolutely  forbidden  to 
work  for  wages.  There  could  hardly  be  an  act  of  greater 
tyranny  or  one  more  directly  opposed  to  the  general  interests 
of  the  community. 

'  6.  If,  as  is  proposed  in  some  schemes,  the  pension  was 
to  depend  upon  a  subscription  to  a  friendly  society,  it  would 
be  granted  in  the  most  partial  manner.  Friendly  societies 
are   mainly  English.      They   are   less   general   in   Scotland. 


AGED   DESERVING  POOE  105 

They  do  not  exist  in  great  tracts  of  Wales.  They  hardly  exist 
at  all  in  Ireland,  and  only  a  very  small  proportion  of  women 
belong  to  them.  If,  too,  the  Government  is  to  work  its 
pension  scheme  in  conjunction  with  the  friendly  societies,  it 
could  hardly  escape  the  necessity  of  guaranteeing  their 
solvency.  It  would  be  obliged  to  mix  itself  up  with  their 
finance,  and  to  impose  upon  them  an  inspection  and  a  control 
which  they  would  certainly  resent,  and  which  would  greatly 
increase  its  own  administrative  duties.  If,  on  the  other  hand, 
it  acted  independently  of  the  existing  societies  for  securing 
Old-Age  Pensions  and  encouraging  working-class  thrift,  the 
presence  of  this  new  gigantic  influence  possessing  State 
credit,  as  a  kind  of  competitor  in  the  field,  would  certainly 
impair  and  probably  ruin  voluntary  institutions,  which  are 
doing  an  admirable  work  and  are  among  the  most  efficient 
means  of  encouraging  self-help,  diminishing  pauperism,  and 
improving  the  condition  of  the  working  class. 

'  7.  The  question  will  naturally  arise  how  it  would  be 
possible  for  the  Government  to  ascertain  the  real  means  of 
the  claimant  for  a  pension,  to  discover  whether  he  possesses 
private  resources  or  savings  so  large  as  to  disqualify  him.  In 
a  small,  thinly  populated  country,  with  a  stationary  popula- 
tion, where  the  circumstances  of  most  men  are  well  known 
to  their  neighbours,  this  difficulty  might  not  be  insuperable. 
It  is  very  different  in  a  country  of  great  cities  and  of  a  vast 
migratory  population.  One  scheme  laid  before  us  proposes 
that  a  condition  of  a  pension  should  be  a  long  residence  in 
a  single  locality,  and  if  the  funds  were  to  be  drawn  from  local 
rates  some  such  condition  would  appear  indispensable.  The 
Danish  scheme  requires  a  fixed  residence  in  the  country  of 
at  least  ten  years.  The  New  Zealand  law  requires  an  annual 
inquisition  into  the  private  means  of  the  pensioner.  But  all 
such  provisions  are  manifestly  unsuited  to  a  country  in  which 
an  immense  proportion  of  the  most  energetic  and  industrious 
workmen  are  in  the  seafaring  profession,  or  are  in  close 
connection    with    the    Colonies,    or    belong   to   trades    which 


106  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

compel  or  induce  them  constantly  to  migrate  from  one  great 
centre  of  population  to  another.  How  can  the  State  under- 
take to  ascertain  the  real  means  of  the  tens  of  thousands  of 
applicants  drawn  from  such  classes  ?  What  guarantee  would 
there  be  against  frauds  of  the  widest  description  ?  And  the 
task  would  be,  if  possible,  still  more  hopeless  if  the  State 
endeavoured  to  ascertain  who  are  the  really  thrifty  and 
deserving,  by  examining  into  the  amount  of  their  debts  and 
the  degree  in  which  through  their  lives  they  had  fulfilled 
their  contracts  and  paid  their  way. 

'8.  Nothing,  indeed,  is  more  conspicuous  in  these  schemes 
than  the  unlimited  faith  which  seems  to  be  felt  in  the  power 
of  the  State  to  undertake  any  amount  of  administration,  to 
multiply  almost  indefinitely  its  functions,  its  functionaries, 
and  its  responsibilities.  The  danger  of  such  a  persuasion  is 
very  great.  The  State  may  easily  be  overweighted  by  the 
tasks  that  are  thrown  upon  it,  and,  if  so,  its  administration 
will  be  both  inefficient  and  extremely  costly.  It  is  totally 
unfit  to  undertake  a  minute  inquisitorial  inquiry  into  the 
means  and  circumstances  of  the  great  masses  of  the  poorer 
population,  and  such  an  attempt  would  be  utterly  repugnant 
to  the  English  character.  The  financial  difficulties  of  the 
enormous  extension  of  State  banking  which  would  be  involved 
in  an  Old-Age  Pension  system  could  hardly  be  exaggerated. 
I  have  already  mentioned  the  danger  of  the  State  mixing 
itself  up  with  the  often  very  dubious  finances  of  the  friendly 
societies.  Owing  chiefly  to  the  decline  of  the  rate  of  interest, 
it  already  finds  a  great  and  growing  difficulty  in  investing  the 
sums  which  are  intrusted  to  it  by  the  Post  Office  and  the 
savings  bank.  Bat  all  these  difficulties  would  be  immeasurably 
increased  if  it  undertook  the  administration  of  a  pension 
fund  for  tens  of  thousands  and  perhaps  millions  of  inde- 
pendent persons  drawn  from  all  classes  of  the  labouring  poor. 

'  9.  It  has  been  contended  before  us  that  the  administra- 
tion of  the  pension  fund  should  be  placed  altogether  in  the 
hands  of  the  managers  of  the  friendly  societies,  subject  only 


AGED   DESERVING   POOR  107 

to  certain  powers  of  appeal  and  inspection  by  the  Govern- 
ment. Such  schemes  seem  to  me  wholly  impracticable.  To 
the  friendly  societies,  no  doubt,  they  would  offer  great 
advantages.  They  would  give  a  new  and  strong  motive  for 
all  classes  of  the  working  community  to  join  them,  and  they 
would  at  the  same  time  enable  them  to  dispense  with  their 
superannuation  funds  and  with  a  large  part  of  their  sick 
funds,  but  they  would  open  the  door  to  grave  and  manifest 
abuses  and  to  great  injustice  to  those  deserving  poor  who 
were  not  members  of  these  societies. 

'  10.  Of  the  proposal  to  place  the  administration  of  the 
pension  fund  in  the  hands  of  the  County  Councils  it  will  be 
sufficient  to  say  that  the  evidence  brought  before  us  shows 
that  those  bodies  emphatically  repudiate  it,  and  that  they 
have  no  sufficient  machinery  to  enable  them  to  undertake  it. 
Mr.  Bickersteth  in  his  very  interesting  evidence  has  shown 
that  it  would  be  necessary  for  them  to  have  a  committee 
specialty  devoted  to  this  work,  sitting  in  every  Poor-law 
union,  and  sitting  altogether  at  least  forty  times  in  the  year. 
Such  an  addition  to  the  abundant  work  already  devolving  on 
the  County  Councils  would,  as  Mr.  Bickersteth  truly  says, 
strain  to  the  utmost  point  the  public  spirit  of  its  members, 
and  it  is  probable  that  in  most  cases  frequent  non-attendance 
would  throw  the  work  into  the  hands  of  a  very  few.  And,  if 
the  County  Councils  of  the  most  prosperous  and  advanced 
part  of  the  Empire  could  hardly  be  trusted  to  discharge  this 
gigantic  task,  the  difficulty  would  be  absolutely  insuperable  in 
the  poorer  and  more  backward  parts.  Who  could  expect  a 
wise,  efficient,  and  impartial  administration  of  these  great 
sums  of  public  money  by  County  Councils  in  Mayo  or 
Donegal  ? 

'11.  In  Denmark  Old- Age  Pensions  are  administered  by 
the  same  authorities  as  the  ordinary  Poor-law  relief,  though 
one  of  the  chief  effects  of  the  measure  is  to  transfer  a  great 
part  of  the  cost  of  supporting  the  poor  from  local  sources  to 
general  taxation.     Poor-law  relief  is  graduated  according  to 


108  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

merit  (in  theory,  at  least)  much  more  than  in  England,  Old- 
Age  Pensions  representing  one  extreme,  while  compulsory 
workhouses  with  a  prison  department  form  the  other.  A 
small  country,  however,  with  only  one  considerable  town,  and 
with  a  stationary  population  of  prosperous  peasant  proprie- 
tors, differs  so  widely  from  England  that  it  can  furnish  but 
little  guidance  for  an  inquiry  like  the  present. 

'  12.  For  the  reasons  I  have  assigned,  it  seems  evident 
that,  if  any  system  of  State  pensions  were  established,  it 
would  be  necessary  to  fall  back  on  the  existing  machinery, 
and  to  make  the  Poor-law  guardians,  or,  as  Mr.  Knollys 
has  suggested,  a  committee  of  the  Poor-law  guardians, 
its  administrators. 

'  13.  But  under  such  a  system  the  distinction  between 
Old-Age  Pensions  and  ordinary  outdoor  Poor-law  relief  would 
be  very  slight.  It  is  more  than  doubtful,  however,  whether, 
if  the  pension  fund  was  derived  wholly  or  mainly  from 
Imperial  taxation,  Parliament  would  suffer  its  administration 
to  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  local  bodies.  They  would  have 
a  manifest  temptation  to  throw  as  much  of  the  Poor-law 
relief  as  possible  on  the  pension  fund,  in  order  to  transfer 
the  cost  from  local  to  Imperial  funds. 

'  14.  On  the  Continent  most  proposals  for  Old- Age  Pensions 
are  connected  with  compulsory  insurance  divided  between  the 
workman  and  his  employer.  In  the  recent  inquiry  on  the 
subject  which  has  taken  place  in  Holland  the  desirability  of 
such  insurance  was  nearly  the  only  conclusion  arrived  at, 
and  in  Germany,  as  is  well  known,  it  is  rigidly  enforced.  It 
appears,  however,  to  be  generally  admitted  that  in  England 
the  extreme  unpopularity  of  such  compulsion  places  it  outside 
the  range  of  practical  politics.  But  the  object  of  the  great 
majority  of  the  schemes  that  have  been  brought  forward  is 
to  prescribe  the  form  that  thrift  must  take  by  offering  a 
pension  to  such  working  men  as  have  secured  for  themselves 
a  small  annuity.  There  is,  I  think,  a  wide  and  well-founded 
consensus    of   competent    opinion    that    such   an    attempt  is 


AGED    DESERVING   POOR  109 

exceedingly  unwise.  In  the  infinitely  various  conditions  of  a 
working  man's  life  thrift  will  take  many  forms,  and  an 
attempt  to  prescribe  a  single  form  is  eminently  injudicious. 
The  whole  life  plan  of  a  farmer,  whose  farm  will  remain  with 
him  to  the  end,  will  be  different  from  that  of  an  artisan  or 
a  domestic  servant  whose  power  of  earning  a  livelihood 
depends  entirely  upon  his  physical  strength.  The  former 
will  probably  find  it  most  profitable  to  expend  his  savings  on 
the  improvement  of  his  farm.  Where  the  system  of  peasant 
proprietorship  prevails  most  agricultural  thrift  is  directed  to 
the  purchase  or  enlargement  of  farms.  In  Ireland  it  is 
largely  directed  to  the  purchase  of  tenant-right.  It  is  still 
more  frequently  directed  to  saving  a  sufficient  sum  to  enable 
the  younger  members  of  the  family  to  emigrate  to  a  country 
where  so  many  of  their  relations  have  already  gone,  and 
where  they  can  easily  earn  a  sufficiency  for  their  old  age 
without  any  State  assistance. 

'  15.  Nor  is  it  by  any  means  true  that  even  the  artisan 
will  find  the  purchase  of  an  annuity  the  best  thing  to  be 
aimed  at.     It  is  noticed  that,  while  working-class  thrift  has 
enormously  increased  in  our  generation,  the  purchase  of  a 
deferred  annuity  is  one  of  the  rarest  and  most  unpopular 
forms  of  working-class  investment.     To  buy  a  house  or  some 
furniture,  to   start  a  small  business,  to  expend  his   savings 
in    tiding   over    periods    of   slack  or    failing  work,    to    avail 
himself   of   the   advantage   which    some   fluctuation   in    the 
market  gives  to  the  man  who  can  transport  himself  promptly 
to  another  locality  or  a  new  business,  is  in  many  cases  far 
more  to  the  advantage  of  a  working  man  than  the  purchase 
of  an  annuity.     Above  all,  money  expended  in  settling  his 
family  is  often  his  best  policy,  as  well  as  the  course  which  is 
most  beneficial  to  the  community.     At  present  a  large  pro- 
portion of  working  men  look  forward  to  their  children  to  help 
them  in  their  old  age,  and  make  it  a  main  object  of  their 
lives  to  place  them  in  a  position  to  do  so.     It  does  not  seem 
to  me  a  wise  thing  for   the  State,  which  has  already  freed 


110  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

parents  from  the  natural  duty  of  providing  for  their  children's 
education,  to  emancipate  children  from  this  duty.  Nor  does 
it  seem  to  me  either  wise  or  moral  for  the  State  to  endeavour 
to  induce  every  married  working  man  to  sink  all  his  savings 
in  an  annuity  which  will  end  with  his  life,  and  from  which 
his  widow  and  children  can  derive  no  benefit.  It  is  certainly 
not  for  the  advantage  of  the  country  that,  in  selecting  between 
alternative  ways  of  providing  for  old  age,  he  should  be 
induced  to  choose  that  which  throws  the  greatest  burden 
on  the  State.  With  the  vast  increase  of  population,  with  the 
great  fluctuations  of  modern  industry,  and  with  the  rapid 
development  of  the  Colonies,  it  is  extremely  desirable,  both 
in  the  interest  of  the  working  men  and  of  the  State,  that 
they  should  be  induced  to  transfer  themselves  from  congested 
towns  and  from  exhausted  industries  to  new  fields.  A  general 
pension  system  would  certainly  contribute  most  powerfully  to 
prevent  them  from  doing  so. 

'16.  It  must  be  added  that  it  is  unfortunately  only  too 
true  that  there  are  very  large  numbers  of  the  industrious 
poor  who  would  be  wholly  incapable  of  saving  sufficient  to 
procure  for  themselves  even  a  small  annuity.  This  is 
certainly  true  of  the  agricultural  labourers  in  the  more 
depressed  counties  in  England  and  in  large  tracts  of  Scotland 
and  Ireland.  In  the  case  of  many  others  such  a  saving  is 
barely  possible  but  at  the  cost  of  lowering  their  standard  of 
living  to  the  level  of  the  poorer  Continental  countries.  We 
have  had  some  melancholy  evidence  brought  before  us  of  the 
low  level  of  women's  wages  as  compared  with  the  wages  of 
men,  and  of  the  extreme  difficulty  they  would  find  in  acquir- 
ing the  thrift  income  which,  according  to  most  of  the  schemes 
for  Old-Age  Pensions,  is  an  essential  qualification.  When  it  is 
added  to  this  that  women  are  very  generally  excluded  from 
the  friendly  societies,  it  becomes  evident  that  they  would 
have  great  reason  to  fear  injustice  in  the  distribution  of 
pensions.  It  is  truly  said  that  the  first  condition  of  the 
healthy   working   of    a    pension   system   is   that    it    should 


AGED   DESERVING   POOR  111 

seriously  encourage  thrift,  but  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  this 
end  to  any  high  degree  is  enormous.  Probably  the  best  test 
that  can  be  suggested  is  a  very  easy  and  imperfect  one — that 
the  claimant  should  for  a  certain  number  of  years  have  never 
applied  for  Poor-law  relief. 

'17.  Another  consideration  of  great  importance  is  the 
probable  effect  of  Old-Age  Pensions  upon  wages.  All  expe- 
rience shows  that  where  a  pension  is  attached  to  a  particular 
employment  the  rate  of  wages  in  it  is  greatly  below  what 
would  otherwise  have  been  the  market  rate.  It  seems  to  me 
scarcely  doubtful  that  a  general  pension  system  would  have 
a  similar  effect.  The  German  system  of  throwing  part  of 
the  cost  directly  on  the  employer  naturally  leads  him  to  make 
it  his  first  object  to  reduce  wages  sufficiently  to  compensate 
him  for  the  expenditure.  Even  if  the  influence  of  Old-Age 
Pensions  in  depressing  wages  was  not  directly  felt  in  England 
in  the  earlier  years  of  a  working-class  life,  it  would  at  least 
be  felt  indirectly  in  retarding  their  natural  rise,  and  it  would 
be  directly  and  severely  felt  when  the  prime  of  life  was  past 
and  the  period  of  obtaining  a  pension  drew  near.  The  con- 
ditions of  modern  industry  already  press  heavily  on  men  between 
fifty-five  and  sixty-five.  It  can  hardly  be  doubted  that  an  Old- 
Age  Pension  in  prospect  would,  during  these  years,  aggravate 
their  condition.  I  have  already  dwelt  upon  the  injustice  of 
the  proposals  that  have  been  made  for  depriving  those  who 
had  attained  a  pension  of  the  right  of  working  for  wages.  If, 
on  the  other  hand,  they  were  permitted  to  do  so,  the  pensioner 
co  aid  easily  underbid  his  competitors  in  the  market,  especially 
those  who  were  not  greatly  below  him  in  age.  The  advantage 
of  a  pension  even  to  those  who  attained  it  would  have  been 
dearly  bought,  and  how  many  would  never  live  to  attain  it '? 

'  18.  The  enormous  addition  to  the  taxation  of  the 
country  which  any  considerable  pension  scheme  would  require 
would  also  have  the  gravest  effects.  Of  the  cost  of  these 
schemes  it  is  true  we  have  only  vague  and  conjectural 
estimates.     The  cost  of  Mr.  Booth's  scheme,  which  was  laid 


112  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

before  the  Commission  of  1895,  was  estimated,  after  deduct- 
ing the  saving  that  would  be  effected  in  ordinary  Poor-law 
relief,  but  not  allowing  for  the  cost  of  administration,  at 
22^  millions.  In  a  later  scheme  Mr.  Booth  has  postponed  the 
pension  age  to  seventy,  and  has  then  been  able  to  reduce  his 
estimate  of  cost  to  16  millions  a  year.  In  our  present  inquiry 
one  of  our  body  estimated  the  annual  cost  of  the  more 
limited  system  he  recommended  at  10  millions,  and  another 
at  six  millions.  Some  schemes  that  have  been  before  us,  and 
many  of  those  pressed  on  us  by  resolutions  from  outside, 
though  unaccompanied  by  any  estimate  of  cost,  would 
probably  amount  to  considerably  more  than  10  millions  a 
year,  and  it  is  certain  that  the  annual  charge  would  be  an 
increasing  one.  Even  if,  as  some  persons  desire,  it  could  be 
directly  thrown  entirely  on  the  richer  classes,  its  inevitable 
effect  would  be  to  cripple  the  general  prosperity  by  the 
reduction  or  emigration  of  capital  and  the  consequent 
diminution  of  purchasers  and  employment.  In  fact,  however, 
it  would  probably  be  found  impossible  to  maintain  under 
these  new  conditions  our  present  system  of  taxation.  A 
wider  basis  would  become  necessary,  and  the  burden  would 
be  directly  as  well  as  indirectly  felt  by  all  classes.  In 
Holland  Old- Age  Pensions  are  said  to  be  much  favoured  by  the 
Protectionist  party  on  the  ground  that  they  would  necessarily 
lead  to  a  wide  imposition  of  duties. 

'19.  They  would  also  certainly  introduce  into  our  political 
life  most  dangerous  and  unhealthy  influences.  It  is  con- 
tinually urged  by  their  supporters  that  the  principle  should 
be  admitted,  that  it  should  first  be  applied  on  a  restricted 
scale  and  should  be  gradually  extended  till  it  included  the 
whole  needy  working  population.  They  point,  as  an  example, 
to  the  Education  Grant,  which  was  at  first  only  £500,000,  and 
which  steadily  grew  till  it  amounted  to  more  than  12  millions. 
Such  a  policy  could  hardly  fail  to  pass  into  the  arena  and  the 
competitions  of  party  politics,  and  to  bring  in  its  train  gross 
political  corruption.     Few  well-wishers  of  the  country  could 


AGED   DESERVING   POOR  113 

look  forward  with  equanimity  to  a  general  election  in  which 
the  increase  or  extension  of  the  pension  system  was  the  main 
question  at  issue,  and  in  which  the  majority,  or  at  least  a 
preponderating  section,  of  the  electors  had  a  direct,  personal, 
money  interest  in  the  result. 

'  20.  It  is,  unfortunately,  only  too  true  that  the  conditions 
of  modern  labour,  though  on  the  whole  eminently  favourable 
to  the  English  working  classes,  are  in  some  respects  by  no 
means  favourable  to  the  old.  Extreme  competition,  carried 
by  the  free-trade  system  to  the  highest  point,  tells  most 
against  them,  and,  in  spite  of  the  influence  of  machinery  in 
substituting  mechanical  for  human  strength,  work  on  a  large 
scale  is  becoming  more  and  more  the  monopoly  of  the  young 
and  of  the  strong.  Trade  unions  insisting  on  a  high  and 
uniform  rate  of  wages  make  life  much  more  difficult  for  an 
old  man,  who  could  once  have  obtained  a  little  work  at  low 
wages.  The  recent  Act  for  the  compensation  of  injuries,  by 
imposing  on  the  employer  enormous  liabilities  in  case  of 
accident,  has  given  him  an  additional  motive  for  employing 
only  perfectly  efficient  labour,  which  is  least  liable  to  accident, 
while  the  decline  in  the  rate  of  interest  makes  it  more 
difficult  than  it  once  was  to  obtain  a  sufficient  and  secure 
income.  On  the  other  hand,  the  great  rise  of  wages,  both 
nominal  and  real,  within  the  last  fifty  years,  the  rise  in  the 
standard  of  living  and  the  vast  increase  of  working-class 
savings  is  beyond  all  dispute,  and  it  is  no  less  certain  that 
there  has  been  a  steady  growth  of  habits  of  sobriety  and 
providence.  The  rapid  diminution  of  pauperism  is  one  of 
the  most  striking  features  of  our  time.  In  the  words  of 
Mr.  Knollys,  "  Since  1849  the  pauperism  of  the  country  has 
been  reduced  by  Poor-law  administration  from  G2-7  per  1,000 
to  26-2  per  1,000,  if  lunatics  and  vagrants  are  included,  or, 
if  we  take  it  without  lunatics  and  vagrants,  to  22*8  per  1,000." 
In  most,  though,  unfortunately,  not  in  all  cases  it  is  possible 
for  a  working  man  in  the  early  years  of  his  working  life,  if 
he  abstains  from  early  and  improvident  marriage,  to  secure 

I 


114  OLD-AGE  PENSIONS 

for  himself  with  no  great  difficulty  a  provision  for  his  old 
age,  and  the  vast  multiplication  and  gigantic  dimensions  of 
voluntary  co-operative  institutions,  providing  against  sickness 
and  other  calamities,  and  in  some  cases  providing  pensions 
for  old  age,  attest  in  the  clearest  manner  the  growth  of 
providence  and  self-help  among  the  English  people.  It  is  of 
the  highest  possible  importance  that  these  institutions  and 
arrangements  should  not  be  impaired,  and  that  the  invaluable 
qualities  that  produce  them  should  not  be  weakened.  In  my 
belief  any  considerable  scheme  of  Old-Age  Pensions  furnished 
from  Government  sources  would  in  both  these  respects  have  a 
most  injurious  influence. 

'21.  It  must  be  added  that  without  the  assistance  of  any 
special  legislation  the  system  of  pensions  is  steadily  extending. 
It  is  not,  it  is  true,  based  on  any  great  eleemosynary  con- 
tribution from  the  rates  and  taxes,  but  is  an  arrangement 
resting  for  the  most  part  upon  work  done  or  contributions 
made  by  the  pensioner.  It  prevails  in  nearly  all  Government 
posts  and  in  a  large  number  of  the  professions.  It  has  been 
adopted  by  some  of  the  most  important  railways.  It  is 
penetrating  more  and  more  into  the  relations  between 
employers  and  employed  in  the  larger  fields  of  industry. 
More  than  one  voluntary  society  of  workmen  have  carried  it 
out  with  perfect  success,  and  Sir  H.  Longley  has  given  us 
interesting  evidence  of  the  extent  to  which  in  the  charities 
under  the  direction  of  the  Charity  Commissioners  pensions 
are,  in  the  towns  at  least,  superseding  doles.  There  can  be 
little  doubt  that  without  legislative  interference  this  move- 
ment will  steadily  advance.  It  is  the  healthy  and  normal 
development  of  our  modern  industry,  and  is  quite  different 
from  the  proposed  plans  for  bestowing  great  subsidies  drawn 
from  the  general  taxation  upon  simple  poverty. 

'  22.  There  are,  it  is  true,  some  proposals  for  Old-Age 
Pensions  which  are  so  modest  in  their  dimensions  that  they 
would  escape  a  large  proportion  of  the  objections  I  have 
mentioned.     Their  authors  recognise  the  insuperable  obstacles 


AGED   DESERVING  POOR  115 

to  proposals  for  universal  pensions,  or  pensions  depending  on 
the  acquisition  of  a  fixed  annuity  before  sixty- five,  or  for  sub- 
sidising the  friendly  societies,  or  making  the  membership  of 
such  societies  an  essential  qualification,  or  adding  largely  for 
pension  purposes  to  the  taxation  of  the  country.  They  would 
put  back  the  pension  age  to  seventy.  They  suggest  that  it 
should  not  be  more  than  2s.  6d.  a  week,  and  they  would  make 
it  simply  an  equivalent  under  another  name,  and  with  another 
administration,  to  the  sum  these  persons  would  receive  if  they 
were  recipients  of  out-of-door  Poor-law  relief.  They  would 
make  the  pension  dependent  on  certain  simple  conditions 
that  could  easily  be  ascertained — that  the  candidate  should 
never  have  suffered  imprisonment ;  that  for  some  years  before 
the  pension  period  arrived  he  should  have  maintained  a  repu- 
tation for  sobriety  ;  that  for  a  similar  period  he  should  not 
have  been  in  receipt  of  Poor-law  relief,  except,  perhaps,  in  the 
form  of  medical  assistance.  Sir  Spencer  Walpole  has  suggested 
that,  while  there  should  be  no  interference  with  the  direction 
in  which  the  thrift  of  early  life  is  turned,  any  poor  person 
who  at  the  age  of  sixty-five  thinks  fit  to  purchase  an  annuity 
of  2s.  6d.  a  week  should  receive  the  same  sum  from  the  State. 

'  23.  Schemes  of  this  kind  would  certainly  throw,  in  the 
first  instance,  no  serious  burden  on  the  State,  and  they 
escape  the  force  of  many  of  the  arguments  I  have  used. 
I  cannot,  however,  recommend  them.  They  would  be  accepted 
as  introducing  a  new,  and  as  it  seems  to  me  most  dangerous, 
principle,  which  would  be  certain  to  grow,  while,  in  fact,  they 
would  be  doing  little  or  nothing  for  the  deserving  poor  which 
cannot  be  done  under  the  existing  Poor  Law.  Most  of  them 
amount  to  little  more  than  our  present  system  of  outdoor 
poor  relief,  administered  by  other  hands,  and  disguised  under 
another  name. 

'  24.  It  is,  I  believe,  universally  felt  that,  while  Poor  Law 
relief  in  some  form  should  be  open  to  all  the  destitute,  the 
deserving  aged  poor  should  be  discriminated  from  the  thrift- 
less, the  drunken,  and  the  immoral.     Nor  is  it,  I  think,  very 

i  2 


116  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

difficult  to  establish  the  broad  lines  of  what  ought  to  be  done. 
The  fact  that  the  better  class  of  the  aged  poor  had  saved 
some  small  though  wholly  insufficient  income,  and  were, 
therefore,  not  absolutely  destitute,  ought  not  to  disqualify 
them  for  relief.  They  should,  as  far  as  possible,  receive  it  in 
their  own  homes.  Care  should  be  taken  that  husband  and 
wife  were  not  separated.  If  their  infirmities  or  their 
circumstances  made  it  desirable  for  them  to  live  in  the 
workhouse,  they  should  be  separated  from  paupers  of  bad 
character,  and  should  be  entitled  to  some  relaxation  of 
discipline  relating  to  hours,  visitors,  and  privacy.  As  a 
matter  of  fact  all  this  not  only  may  be  done,  but  is  done 
in  numerous  cases.  The  vast  majority  of  the  destitute  poor 
of  all  kinds  of  the  age  of  sixty-five  and  upwards  are  in 
receipt  of  outdoor  relief,  and  Mr.  Knollys  and  Mr.  Cleaver 
have  furnished  us  with  decisive  evidence  of  the  extent  to 
which  classification  according  to  merit  actually  exists  under 
our  present  Poor-law  administration.  The  administration 
of  the  board  of  guardians  of  the  West  Derby  Union,  as  described 
to  us  by  Mr.  Cleaver,  seems  to  me  to  leave  little  or  nothing 
to  be  desired.  It  is  made  to  include  the  necessitous  as  well  as 
the  destitute ;  it  is  hi  all  its  parts  most  carefully  and  skilfully 
discriminated  according  to  merit,  and  separate  cottages  have 
been  erected  for  the  benefit  of  deserving  married  couples. 

'  25.  It  has  been  observed  in  the  Eeport  which  has  been 
just  issued  by  the  Select  Committee  on  Cottage  Homes 
"  that  as  a  general  rule  boards  of  guardians  are  in  the  habit 
of  granting  outdoor  relief  to  the  aged  and  deserving  poor, 
and  that  it  is  the  exception  to  relieve  them  in  the  workhouse. 
The  exceptional  cases  are  those  where  the  infirmity  of  the 
applicant  for  relief  or  other  circumstances  render  it  practically 
impossible  for  him  to  live  elsewhere  than  in  an  institution." 
Much  has  been  said  of  the  importance  of  saving  the  deserving 
aged  poor  from  "the  stigma"  of  pauperism.  According  to 
the  very  competent  testimony  of  Mr.  Knollys  there  is  little 
evidence  that  any  stigma  attaches  in  their  eyes  to  the  receipt 


AGED   DESERVING   POOR  117 

of  outdoor  relief,  and  although  thej7  do  strongly  dislike  to 
enter  the  workhouse,  and  consider  it  a  degrading  thing,  a 
considerable  part  of  this  dislike  is  due  to  the  severity  of  its 
discipline.  If  the  distinction  of  treatment  between  the 
meritorious  and  the  undeserving  was  made  general,  if  it  was 
more  clearly  denned  and  depended  less  than  at  present  on 
the  will  of  the  guardians,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the 
stigma,  even  in  the  case  of  the  workhouse,  would  be  little 
felt  by  those  who  were  in  the  upper  grade.  That  the  poor 
should  look  forward  with  no  reluctance  whatever  to  being 
supported  by  unearned  State  subsidies  seems  to  me  by  no 
means  desirable. 

'  26.  It  is  by  an  extended  and  more  clearly  defined 
system  of  Poor-law  classification  that  the  problem  before  us 
can,  I  think,  be  best  met.  As  far  as  the  aged  and  deserv- 
ing poor  in  the  workhouses  are  concerned,  such  a  classification 
as  that  recommended  in  the  report  to  which  I  have  just 
referred  would  fully  meet  the  case.  It  would,  no  doubt, 
involve  some  increase  of  Poor-law  expenditure,  but  this 
would  be  trifling  in  comparison  to  the  schemes  of  Old-Age 
Pensions  which  have  been  brought  before  us.  To  open 
a  new  and  ever-increasing  fund,  amounting  to  many 
millions  a  year,  derived  from  compulsory  taxation,  and 
employed  in  directly  subsidising  the  poor  would,  in  my 
opinion,  be  a  most  retrograde  and  dangerous  step.  It  would 
reproduce,  in  a  slightly  different  form,  the  evils  of  the  old 
Poor  Law  as  it  existed  before  the  reform  of  1834.  It  would 
certainly  arrest  that  steady  decline  of  pauperism  which  has 
been  one  of  the  happiest  features  of  our  time.  It  would 
check  the  growth  or  destroy  the  efficiency  of  voluntary 
organisations  and  arrangements  which  are  of  inestimable 
value.  It  could  scarcely  fail  to  weaken  the  habits  of  provi- 
dence and  thrift  which  have  been  rapidly  growing  among  the 
poor,  and  which  are  a  vital  element  in  national  prosperity, 
and  in  many  other  ways  which  I  have  endeavoured  to  indicate 
it  would  prove  in  a  high  degree  detrimental  to  the  interests  of 
the  Empire.'  W.  E.  H.  L. 


118  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 


XI 

PENSIONS  AND  THE  '  DESERVING  AGED  POOR ' 

A  kind  of  pension  system  may  be  introduced  by  an  alteration 
in  the  practice  of  Boards  of  Guardians  in  dealing  with 
applications  from  the  Aged  Poor.  A  recent  circular  (August  4, 
1900)  of  the  Local  Government  Board,  in  which  were  made 
certain  recommendations  in  regard  to  the  relief  of  the  Aged 
Deserving  Poor,  suggests  that  this  method  of  introducing  a 
change  is  being  adopted  by  the  Local  Government  Board. 
The  words  are  : — 

'With  regard  to  the  treatment  of  the  Aged  Deserving 
Poor,  it  has  been  felt  that  persons  who  have  habitually  led 
decent  and  deserving  lives  should,  if  they  require  relief  in 
their  old  age,  receive  different  treatment  from  those  whose 
previous  habits  and  character  have  been  unsatisfactory,  and 
who  have  failed  to  exercise  thrift  in  the  bringing  up  of  their 
families  or  otherwise.  The  Board  consider  that  aged 
deserving  persons  should  not  be  urged  to  enter  the  work- 
house at  all  unless  there  is  some  cause  which  renders  such  a 
course  necessary,  such  as  infirmity  of  mind  or  body,  the 
absence  of  house  accommodation  or  of  a  suitable  person  to 
care  for  them,  or  some  similar  cause,  but  that  they  should  be 
relieved  by  having  adequate  out-door  relief  granted  to  them. 
The  Board  are  happy  to  think  that  it  is  commonly  the 
practice  of  Boards  of  Guardians  to  grant  out-door  relief  in 
such  cases,  but  they  are  afraid  that  too  frequently  such  relief 
is  not  adequate  in  amount.     They  are  desirous  of  pressing 


PENSIONS   AND   THE    'DESERVING   AGED   POOR'  119 

upon  the  Guardians  that  such  relief  should  when  granted  be 
always  adequate. 

'  When,  however,  it  is  necessary  that  such  persons  should 
receive  indoor  relief,  the  Board  consider  that  they  might  he 
granted  certain  privileges  which  could  not  be  accorded  to 
every  inmate  of  the  Workhouse.' 

The  Circular  has,  I  believe,  been  differently  interpreted 
by  different  Boards  of  Guardians,  some  regarding  it  merely 
as  an  official  recognition  of  their  actual  practice,  others 
looking  upon  it  as  an  authoritative  declaration  of  a 
change  of  policy.  I  can  only  record  the  impression  which  it 
conveys  to  myself  and  others  who  are  engaged  in  the 
practical  work  of  administering  public  relief.  We  are  now 
explicitly  urged  by  the  Central  Board  '  not  to  offer  the  House ' 
in  certain  '  deserving '  cases,  but  to  give  '  adequate  '  out-door 
relief.  In  other  words,  we  are,  for  the  first  time,  officially 
asked  to  recognise  '  desert '  instead  of  '  destitution  '  as  the 
qualification  for  Poor-law  relief. 

The  alteration  suggested  in  both  the  principle  and  prac- 
tice of  public  relief  is  of  so  fundamental  a  nature  that  it  is 
desirable  that  it  should  be  considered  in  all  its  bearings. 
The  sudden  reversal  of  the  policy  of  the  Central  Board  is  very 
remarkable.  That  policy  has  hitherto  been  directed  to  the 
limitation  of  out-relief  rather  than  to  its  extension.  The 
Board  itself  has  in  the  past  spoken  with  no  uncertain  voice 
upon  the  subject.  Its  annual  reports  have  been  largely  occupied 
with  consideration  of  the  question.  It  has  never  hitherto 
been  realised  that  Boards  of  Guardians  required  any  stimulus 
from  the  Central  Board  to  induce  them  to  give  out-door 
relief.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  of  the  648  Boards  in  England 
and  Wales,  those  who  have  adopted  a  '  strict '  or  '  indoor  ' 
policy  may  be  counted  upon  the  fingers  of  one  hand. 

The  limits  of  pauperism  have  hitherto  been  determined 
to  a  great  extent  by  the  sort  of  feeling  that  is  '  in  the  air ' 
with  regard  to  the  acceptance  of  State  relief  in  any  form. 
Hitherto   it   has  been  regarded   as  more  creditable  to  keep 


120  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

away  from  it  than  to  have  recourse  to  it.  Any  one  who 
has  talked  over  the  matter  with  the  better  class  of  working 
man  in  town  or  country  will  be  able  to  confirm  this  of  his 
own  experience.  Application  to  the  Parish  is  looked  upon  as 
the  last  resort,  to  be  made  use  of  only  in  case  of  absolute 
necessity.  It  is  difficult  to  overstate  the  effect  of  this  feeling 
in  the  direction  of  dispauperisation. 

The  Circular  of  the  Local  Government  Board  proposes  to 
alter  all  this  :  the  whole  sentiment  with  regard  to  the  receipt 
of  public  relief  is  to  be  changed.  The  receipt  of  at  least 
one  form  of  public  relief  becomes  at  once  a  badge  of  merit. 
The  consequences  are  obvious.  A  new  source  of  demand  for 
it  is  tapped  from  a  social  stratum  altogether  above  that  which 
has  received  it  in  the  past — a  stratum  which  has  hitherto 
regarded  it  with  dislike  and  repugnance.  The  Circular  is,  in 
fact,  an  invitation  to  a  large  class  of  those  who  have  hitherto 
supported  themselves  apart  from  the  Poor  Law  to  apply  for 
Poor-law  relief.  If  'desert'  is  to  be  the  test,  that  is  pro- 
bably the  very  class  which  would  be  found  upon  investigation 
to  be  most  '  deserving.' 

It  may  perhaps  be  argued  that  it  is  desirable  that  they 
should  do  so.  It  is,  however,  a  prospect  which  some  of  us 
can  hardly  regard  with  equanimity.  One  thing  is  certain — 
that  when  an  application  has  once  been  made  for  relief  it  is 
often  very  difficult  to  say  that  relief  is  not  required.  The 
line  of  demarcation  between  those  who  can  get  on  without 
relief  and  those  who  cannot  is  a  very  narrow  one.  It  is  very 
difficult  to  ascertain  the  exact  income  in  any  given  case. 
The  adjudicating  body  has,  almost  of  necessity,  an  altogether 
different  standard  of  living  from  those  with  whom  they  have 
to  deal.  The  inevitable  result  will  be  that  a  very  large 
number  of  those  who  have  hitherto — it  may  be  by  a  hard 
struggle — kept  off  the  rates,  will  now  make  application, 
and  that  it  will  seldom  be  possible  to  say  that  there  is  no 
'  need.' 

But,  apart  from  all  this,  the  question  of  deciding  who  is 


PENSIONS  AND  THE    'DESERVING    \<iED   POOR'  121 

'deserving'  and  who  is  'undeserving'  of  out-door  relief  is  by 
no  means  so  simple  as  it  appears  at  first  sight.  Of  course,  I 
am  assuming  that  we  wish  to  do  it  conscientiously,  and  not  in 
a  slipshod  manner,  and  that  we  wish  to  deal  out  the  same  sort 
of  measure  to  all  alike. 

In  the  first  place,  we  have  to  get  at  our  facts,  and  this, 
especially  in  large  centres  of  population  where  people  come 
and  go  and  the  lives  of  individuals  are  merged  in  the  crowd, 
is  oiten  a  matter  of  great  difficulty.  The  difficulty  with 
regard  to  the  ascertaining  of  income  has  already  been  alluded 
to.  There  is  nothing  as  to  which  people  are,  not  unnaturally, 
more  reticent.  But  there  are  many  other  difficulties,  such  as 
those  of  age,  residence,  family  relations,  all  of  which,  simple 
as  they  appear,  are  often  involved  in  great  obscurity.  Any 
experienced  Relieving  Officer  or  Settlement  Officer  would  be 
able  to  speak  as  to  this. 

But  supposing  that  we  knew  our  facts,  the  difficulty  is 
not  at  an  end.  How  are  we  to  define  the  words  '  deserving ' 
and  'undeserving'?'  What  standards  are  we  to  adopt?  How 
far  back  in  a  man's  life  are  we  to  go  ?  What  allowances 
are  we  to  make  for  his  surroundings  ?  Are  we  to  require 
a  thrift  test  ?  If  so,  what  is  it  to  be  ?  Are  we  to  consider 
everyone  as  deserving  who  has  no  known  vices — though  his 
virtues  may  possibly  be  equally  an  unknown  quantity  ?  If 
sobriety  is  the  test,  is  an  occasional  lapse  to  disqualify  ?  We 
are  entitled,  I  think,  to  ask  the  Local  Government  Board  to 
throw  some  light  upon  these  and  similar  questions.  If,  on 
the  other  hand,  those  are  to  be  considered  as  'deserving' 
against  whom  nothing  particular  is  known  or  at  least 
proved,  it  follows  that  only  the  '  notorious  evil  liver '  will  be 
excluded. 

The  next  difficulty  is  to  be  found  in  the  nature  and  con- 
stitution of  the  adjudicating  bodies,  composed  as  they  are  of 
all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men,  differing  in  religion,  politics, 
trades,  and  professions — and,  as  often  as  not,  in  ethical 
standards — their  estimates  of  human  nature  are  bound  to 


122  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

differ  toto  ccelo,  at  different  times  and  in  different  places. 
Anyone  who  has  had  experience  of  Poor-law  administration 
will  know  that  this  is  no  imaginary  position.  The  presence 
or  absence  of  this  Guardian  or  that  Guardian  at  a  particular 
meeting  makes  all  the  difference  in  the  decision  upon  a  case. 
The  decisions  in  one  Committee-room  are  totally  different 
from  those  in  another  Committee-room.  Questions  -are 
decided  upon  side  issues  quite  apart  from  the  merits  of 
the  case.  There  is  frequently  all  sorts  of  outside  pressure 
— especially  at  election  time.  '  Influential  ratepayers  '  press 
cases  for  relief.  Agitations  are  got  up  in  the  local  Press  and 
elsewhere.  Applicants  for  relief  are  frequently  known  to 
Guardians  in  some  capacity  outside  the  Board-room,  and  in 
such  cases  there  cannot  fail  to  be  some  bias,  however  un- 
intentional, quite  apart  from  the  merits  of  the  case.  Again, 
the  natural  tendency  of  every  one  is  to  say  }res,  rather  than 
no !  That  tendency  is  not  lessened  when  it  is  a  public  fund 
that  is  being  dealt  with,  and  when  the  man  who  says  yes 
passes  for  being  kind  and  humane,  while  the  man  who  says 
no  gets  the  contrary  reputation,  both  with  the  applicant  for 
relief  and  the  public.  Again,  most  of  us  when  face  to  face 
with  an  applicant  for  relief,  even  if  his  application  is  proved 
to  be  due  to  some  form  of  human  weakness — such  a  one,  for 
instance,  as  having  spent  his  money  too  fast — cannot  but  feel 
that  we  have  plenty  of  human  weakness  ourselves,  and, 
rightly  or  wrongly,  feel  ourselves  quite  unfit  to  be  judges 
in  the  case.  The  old  saying  :  '  There  but  for  the  grace  of 
God  go  I  .  .  .'  rises  in  our  minds,  and  we  feel  ourselves  in 
a  totally  false  position. 

It  will  probably  be  said  that  Boards  of  Guardians  have 
been  capable  of  discrimination  in  the  past  and  will  therefore 
be  so  in  the  future.  But  have  they  been  so  ?  Not  a  week 
passes  but  some  gross  case  of  imposture  is  reported  in  the 
Press.  For  one  that  is  reported,  how  many  are  there  that 
are  not  reported  ?  Relieving  Officers,  especially  in  great  cities, 
could  throw  some  interesting  light  upon  the  question.     In  the 


PENSIONS  AND  THE  'DESERVING  AGED  POOR'    123 

country  districts  applicants  do  not  as  a  rule  come  before  the 
Board  at  all,  and  the  Guardians  are  absolutely  dependent 
upon  the  report  of  their  Relieving  Officer  and  of  the  local 
Guardian,  whoever  he  may  be.  Even  in  country  districts 
we  hear  from  time  to  time  of  fraud  and  imposture,  and  in 
some  country  unions  pauperism  is  three  times  as  great  as  it 
is  in  others. 

In  conclusion,  it  appears  to  at  least  some  of  us  that  the 
test  of  '  destitution  '  has  always  hitherto  been  the  sheet  anchor 
of  the  English  Poor  Law,  and  that  the  cable,  though  often 
badly  strained,  has  never  yet  parted,  but  still  remains 
available  in  case  of  need.  The  test  of  '  desert '  which  it  is  now 
proposed  to  substitute  for  it  will,  we  believe,  in  practice, 
exclude  no  one  except  the  very  small  class  of  those  who  are 
openly  '  evil  livers,'  and  we  must  be  prepared  for  a  very  large 
increase  in  our  pauperism  and  a  definite  abandonment  of  the 
hope  that  any  large  proportion  of  the  weekly  wage-earners 
will  be  independent  of  Poor-law  relief.  If  any  discrimination 
other  than  a  most  perfunctory  one  is  contemplated,  Guardians 
are  at  once  placed  in  an  almost  impossible  position  because 
human  nature  is  not  naturally  divided  into  those  who  are 
'  deserving '  and  those  who  are  '  undeserving.'  We  are  the 
most  of  us  rather  colourless,  and  our  weaknesses,  such  as  they 
are,  we  keep  to  ourselves. 

W.  A.  B. 


124  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 


XII 

OLD-AGE  PENSIONS  AND  POOR  EELIEF 

The  following  letter  puts  in  so  concise  a  manner  the  objec- 
tions to  Old-Age  Pensions  felt  by  a  Board  of  Guardians  whose 
ability  in  the  administration  of  poor  relief  is  generally  recog- 
nised, that  the  Committee  on  Old-Age  Pensions  has  thought 
it  desirable  to  reprint  it  as  it  stands  : — 

BRADFIELD  BOARD  OF  GUARDIANS. 

4  Bridge  Street,  Caversharn,  near  Reading  : 
January  12,  1899. 

Sir,— I  am  directed  by  my  Board  to  reply  to  your  printed  letter 
asking  for  their  views  (for  the  information  of  your  Committee)  upon 
certain  points : — 

1.  (a)  My  Board  are  of  opinion  that  any  State  provision  for  the 
poor  in  old  age  must,  whatever  it  may  be  called,  essen- 
tially be  in  the  nature  of  Poor-law  relief ;  that  the 
welfare  of  the  nation  is  involved  in  everyone  feeling  that 
it  is  to  his  interest  to  avoid  dependence  upon  unearned 
aid  from  public  funds  ;  and  that  therefore  any  system 
tending  to  make  such  dependence  attractive,  and  even 
honourable,  is  full  of  danger. 
(b)  They  are  not  convinced  that  '  Insurance '  is  always  the 
best  way  of  providing  for  old  age.  They  are  in  favour 
of  leaving  existing  organisations  to  work  out  these 
problems  unhampered  by  State  interference,  which  must 
accompany  State  assistance. 


OLD-AGE   PENSIONS   AND   POOR   RELIEF  125 

2.  They  are  not  in  favour  of  the  proposals  contained  in  Mr. 
Lionel  Holland's  Bill,1  for  the  following  reasons,  viz. :  — 

(a)  The  Bill  would  give  preferential  treatment  to  one  class. 

(b)  It  would  not  touch  the  bulk  of  cases  now  coming  on  the 

rates. 

(c)  It   would   involve    State    interference   with    the    Friendly 

Societies. 

(d)  It  has  no  finality  and  would  introduce  a  dangerous  element 

into  political  electioneering. 

(e)  It  is  full  of  difficulties  of  machinery  as  regards  settlement, 

and  would  entail  a  vast  amount  of  office  work. 

(/)  The  proposed  pensions  are  nothing  more  nor  less  than  out- 
door relief. 

(g)  They  may  have  unexpected  results,  e.g.,  on  wages ;  or  on 
the  condition  of  old  people  who  would  be  better  in  a 
workhouse. 

8.  They  are  not  in  favour  of  the  proposals  contained  in  Sir  J. 
Rankin's  Bill,2  for  the  following  reasons,  viz.  : — 

(a)  Like  Mr.  Holland's  Bill,  it  would  treat  one  class  better 
than  others,  a  larger  class  than  in  his  Bill,  but  still  a 
class. 

1  Note. — Principal  Provisions  of  Mr.  Holland's  Bill. 

Pension  of  5.\\  at  sixty- five  to  all  who  since  twenty-five  have  been  members  of 
registered  Friendly  Societies  ;  except  those  with  incomes  over  ±J160  ; 
earning  regular  wages  over  5s.  ;  who  have  received  Poor-law  relief  before 
sixty  ;  or  have  been  sent  to  prison,  without  option  of  a  fine,  since  fifty-five. 

Peusion  provided  half  by  County  Rate,  half  out  of  Imperial  Funds,  and  to  be 
paid  by  County  Council  to  the  Friendly  Society  (on  favourable  report  of 
the  Society  and  the  Guardians).     Society  pay  the  pensioner. 

Provisions  as  to  persons  now  over  sixty-five,  widows,  &c. 

2  Note. — Principal  Provisions  of  Sir  J.  Rankin's  Bill. 
Pensions  of  2s.  6d.  at  sixty-five  to  all  in  possession  of  an  '  annuity '  of  same 

value  from  any  Assurance  Office,  Friendly  Society,  or  the  Post  Office. 
Pension  payable  (out  of  annual  grants  by  Parliament),  in  monthly  payments 

through  any  Post  Office,  on  certificate  by  the  Office  or  Society  granting 

the  annuity. 
Guardians  may  give  outdoor  relief  to  any  pensioner  losing  his  annuity  from 

causes  beyond  his  own   control,  and   may  claim    the   amount   towards 

recoupment. 


126  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

(b)  As  there  is  no  maximum  limit  to  the  independent  means  of 

pensioners,  persons  in  good  position  would  receive  pensions 
towards  which  poorer  classes  would  contribute. 

(c)  It  would  not  touch  the  bulk  of  cases  now  coming  on  the 

Poor  Law.  And  where  it  might  do  so,  the  pension  would 
probably  often  not  last  from  one  date  of  payment  to 
another. 

(d)  It  would  not  come  into  full  operation  for  many  years. 

(e)  It    would    involve    State   interference   with    the    Friendly 

Societies. 
(/)  It  has  no  finality. 
(g)  The  machinery  is  even  more  full  of  difficulties  than  Mr. 

Holland's  Bill. 
(h)  The  pensions  would  be  a  mere  subsidy  to  interest  on  savings. 

Essentially  they  would  be  outdoor  relief,  in  aid  of  many 

who  do  not  need  it. 
(7)   The  expense  would  be  proportionately  great. 

4.  They  are  not  in  favour  of  any  of  the  suggestions  for  Poor- 
law  reform  contained  in  the  annex  to  your  letter,1  for  the  following 
reasons,  viz. : — 

(a)  Guardians  already  have  power  to  give  pensions  in  the  shape 

of  outdoor  relief  on  grounds  of  character  or  conduct. 

(b)  The  present  apparent  case  for  reform  resting  on  a  high  rate 

of  aged  pauperism,  has  largely  been  caused  by  their 
attempts  to  discriminate  in  this  way. 

1  Note. — Principal  Poor-law  Reforms  suggested. 

Persons  over  sixty-live,  destitute  through  immoral  conduct,  to  be  relieved  only 
in  the  workhouse. 

Others  to  be  entitled  to  a  pension  of  5s.,  or  to  maintenance  in  Special 
Infirmaries  or  Old-Age  Houses,  or  to  Boarding  Out. 

Non-receipt  of  Poordaw  relief  before  sixty-five  (except  in  special  circum- 
stances), or  long  membership  of  a  Friendly  Society  or  Trades  Union  with 
sick  benefit,  to  be  evidence  of  moral  and  thrifty  conduct. 

Workhouse  maintenance  to  be  defrayed  by  State. 

Local  Government  Board  inspection  of  workhouses  to  promote  above 
proposals. 

Guardians  to  have  power  to  subscribe  to  or  support  Almshouses. 

Persons  in  receipt  of  pensions  or  '  out-maintenance '  to  suffer  no  civil  dis- 
qualification. 


OLD-AGE   PENSIONS   AND   POOR   RELIEF  127 

(c)  Such  attempts  are  sure  to  be  unequal  and  imperfect,  and  to 

cause  discontent ;  and  reform,  if  any,  should  therefore  be 
aimed  at  restricting  rather  than  extending  them. 

(d)  Of  the  three  suggested  modes  of  dealing  with  ( deserving  cases ' 

i.  Pensions  would  be  suitable  to  very  few,  and  would 

be  mere  outdoor  relief, 
ii.  Special   Infirmaries    and   Old-Age   Homes   are   only 

workhouses  under  another  name,  unless  made  more 

attractive  and  expensive, 
iii.  Boarding-out   of   the   aged  would,  even   more   than 

boarding-out  of  children,  be  open  to  abuse,  which 

moreover  could  be  less  efficiently  guarded  against. 

(e)  Guardians  could  not  ensure  constant  information  attending 

the  circumstances  and  conduct  of  permanent  pensioners  ; 
they  cannot  even  do  so  in  the  case  of  outdoor  paupers  now, 
in  spite  of  the  relief  being  granted  only  from  time  to  time. 

(/)  It  would  be  impossible  to  trace  the  Poor-law  life  history  of 
applicants.  They  would  not  furnish  information  against 
themselves.     The  attempt  must  end  in  laxity. 

(g)  Membership  of  Friendly  Societies  or  Trade  Unions,  however 
long,  is  no  evidence  of  moral  conduct. 

(/;)  Nationalisation  of  Poor-law  expenditure  is  dangerous,  as 
tending  to  diminish  the  feeling  of  responsibility  of 
administrators. 

(/)  Workhouses  are  already  inspected.  What  new  powers  and 
remedies  is  the  Local  Government  Board  to  have  to 
enforce  '  proper '  and  economical  management '?  or  for 
making  inquiries  into  individual  cases  ? 

(j)  Practically  this  is  done  already,  for  it  is  mere  outdoor  relief. 
Where  it  is  done  it  is  mischievous  and  unjust,  since  every 
pauper  in  an  almshouse  keeps  out  one  person  of  the  class 
for  whom  almshouses  were  intended,  i.e.,  poor  people  who 
have  just  about  enough  means  of  their  own  to  live  decently 
with  the  assistance  of  such  institutions. 

(k)  Electors  ought  not  to  be  able  to  derive  unearned  benefit 
from  funds  under  the  control  of  those  whom  they  elect. 

In  the  result,  my  Board  regret  to  say  that  in  their  opinion  none 
of  the  proposals  in  your  letter  would  prove  beneficial  to  the  poor 
or  to  the  community,  and,  as  regards  the  two  Bills,  they  are  confirmed 


128 


OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 


in  their  opinion  by  the  report  of  the  recent  Select  Committee  on 
Old- Age  Pensions,  who  (as  you  are  aware)  considered  carefully  and 
rejected  both  schemes  ;  and  reluctantly  came  to  the  conclusion  that 
it  was  impossible  to  frame  any  satisfactory  scheme. 

Lest,  however,  you  should  thiuk  that  my  Board  consider  that 
there  exists  an  evil  for  which  there  is  no  remedy,  the  following 
general  remarks  are  added,  in  conclusion,  for  submission  to  your 
Committee. 

Experience  shows  that  it  is  a  very  serious  thing  to  begin  any 
new  system  of  State  relief.  Such  systems  are  almost  impossible  to 
discontinue  or  to  modify  except  in  the  direction  of  greater  laxity. 
Nothing  can  justify  their  initiation  except  clear  failure  of  existing 
arrangements  and  clear  prospect  of  improvement  under  the  new 
system.  The  present  contention  that  State  aid  is  needed  for  the 
aged  resembles  the  argument  before  1834,  that  the  able-bodied  could 
not  live  on  wages  alone.  In  both  cases  the  surest  way  to  establish 
the  truth  of  such  an  argument  is  to  act  upon  it.  History  since 
1834  has  shown  that  the  miserable  state  of  the  labourer  before  that 
time  was  chiefly  due  to  this  having  been  done  in  his  case,  and  to 
the  false  kindness  of  State  aid.  The  history  of  this  Union  since 
1871,  when  the  present  policy  of  restraining  outdoor  relief  to  the 
narrowest  possible  limits  began,  tends  to  show  that  the  bulk  of  old- 
age  pauperism  to-day  is  traceable  to  similar  causes.  No  doubt  all 
arguments  drawn  from  particular  Unions  must  be  scrutinised  before 
being  admitted  as  universally  applicable.  But  the  case  of  Bradfield 
does  not  stand  alone  ;  and  even  if  it  did,  it  raises  a  strong  primd- 
facie  presumption  that  the  present  requirement  is  not  Old-Age 
Pensions,  or  more  outdoor  relief,  so  much  as  more  careful 
administration. 

The  pauperism  of  this  Union  now  and  twenty-eight  years  ago 
may  be  thus  stated: — 


Pop. 

In- 
door 

Out- 

Total 

Aged  over  65 

Total 

Death  Rate 

* 

door 

In 

Out 

!     ot  Union 

1871...  Jan.  1 

15,853 

259 

9<j9 

1,258 

72 

229 

301 

16-5(1874; 

1898. ..Jan.  1 

19,017 

(estimated) 

120 

11 

134 

14 

10 

64 

llo 

OLD-AGE   PENSIONS  AND  POOR   RELIEF  129 

And  it  is  to  be  observed  that  even  these  figures  of  indoor  aged 
pauperism  are  subject  to  large  deductions,  on  account  of  the  help- 
less and  lonely,  the  sick  and  the  vicious,  none  of  whom  would 
under  any  system  be  proper  subjects  for  '  outside  maintenance.' 

If  the  pauperism  of  the  whole  country  (England  and  Wales) 
were  on  the  same  scale,  the  result  would  be,  taking  the  general 
pauperism  on  January  1, 1898,  excluding  lunatics  and  vagrants: — 

f  Indoor    200,9111  f  Indoor    196,553 

Instead  of  <  >  there  would  be  < 

I  Outdoor  532,294  J  [  Outdoor    22,835 


Total    ...    733,205  Total    ...    219,388 

In  advocating  the  principles,  the  application  of  which  has  led 
to  these  results,  my  Board  are  aware  that  they  are  open  to  mis- 
understanding. Some  may  object  that  such  administration  is  harsh, 
and  involves  hardship  to  the  poor.  My  Board  repel  this  suggestion. 
They  believe  that  the  condition  of  the  poor  in  this  Union  will  bear 
comparison  with  that  in  any  other.  No  locality  can  be  without 
cases  of  hardship  and  distress,  especially  among  those  whose  nature 
keeps  them  from  making  their  want  known,  or  from  accepting  aid 
from  others.  But  such  cases  are  not  common  and  are  believed  to 
be  no  more  frequent  here  than  elsewhere.  And  it  has  ever  been 
the  aim  of  the  Bradfield  Board  to  bear  in  mind  not  only  those  who 
do  come  on  the  rates,  but  those  who  do  not,  whether  ratepayers  or 
otherwise,  remembering  the  principle  underlying  the  English  Poor- 
law  system,  that  in  justice  to  the  self-supporting  working  classes 
'  the  situation  of  the  pauper  ought  not  on  the  whole  to  be  made 
really  or  apparently  so  eligible  as  the  situation  of  the  lowest  class 
of  independent  labourer.' 

I  am,  Sir 

Bobbkt  Simmons 
Clerk  to  the  Bradfield  Board  of  Guardians. 


180  OLD-AGE    TENSIONS 


XIII 
PROGRESS  OF  THE  WORKING  CLASSES 


(This  paper  is  taken  from  addresses   delivered   by   Sir   Robert 
Giffen,  K.C.B.,  at  the  Boyal  Statistical  Society.) 


It  was  desired  to  include  in  a  small  collection  of  papers 
dealing  with  Old-Age  Pensions  a  paper  or  memorandum  on 
the  progress  of  the  working  classes — a  question  that  has  an 
important  bearing  on  that  subject.  It  is  frequently  argued 
that  it  is  not  possible  for  the  great  bulk  of  the  working  classes 
to  make  provision  for  their  old  age  and  yet  to  maintain 
themselves  according  to  a  reasonable  standard  of  comfort. 
Much  may  turn  on  the  definition  of  the  terms  '  possible '  and 
1  reasonable.'  But  the  evidence  of  history  shows  that 
a  very  great  advance  has  taken  place  in  the  wages  of 
the  working  classes  during  the  last  half  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  that  while  wages  have  risen -largely  prices  have  fallen 
considerably,  and  that  at  each  decade  property  has  been  more 
and  more  widely  distributed  among  the  whole  population.  In 
these  circumstances,  unless  the  population  has  materially 
'  deteriorated  in  the  art  of  spending,'  the  claim  for  State 
support,  whether  in  old  age  or  during  any  other  period  of  life, 
has  been  constantly  weakened  as  the  ability  of  the  people  to 


PROGRESS   OF   THE   WORKING   CLASSES  131 

provide  for  themselves  has  constantly  increased.  It  is  with 
the  object  of  setting  out  the  facts  which  support  this  conten- 
tion, so  far  as  they  can  he  shortly  stated,  chiefly  in  extracts 
from  the  papers  by  Sir  E.  Giffen,  read  at  the  Eoyal  Statistical 
Society,  that  the  following  abstract  has  been  compiled,  with 
the  permission  of  the  author  and  the  Society,  though  they  are 
not  responsible  in  any  way  for  the  selection  itself. 


Peogress  of  the  Working  Classes  in  the  last 
Half  Century— (1888). 

There  are  two  or  three  ways  in  which  statistics  may  throw 
light  on  such  a  question  as  I  have  put  forward.  The  first  and  most 
direct  is  to  see  what  records  there  are  of  the  money  earnings  of  the 
masses  now  and  fifty  years  ago,  ascertain  whether  they  have 
increased  or  diminished,  and  then  compare  them  with  the  rise  or 
fall  in  the  prices  of  the  chief  articles  which  the  masses  consume. 
Even  such  records  would  not  give  a  complete  answer.  It  is 
conceivable,  for  instance,  that  while  earning  more  money,  and 
being  able  to  spend  it  to  more  advantage,  the  working  classes  might 
be  no  better  off  than  formerly.  There  may  be  masses,  as  there  are 
individuals,  who  do  not  know  how  to  spend.  The  question  of 
means,  however,  will  carry  us  some  distance  on  the  road  to  our 
object.  We  shall  know  that  the  masses  must  be  better  off  unless 
they  have  deteriorated  in  the  art  of  spending,  a  subject  of  separate 
inquiry. — (Extract  from  '  Progress  of  the  Working  Classes  in  the 
Last  Half  Century,'  p.  4.) 


Changes  in  Money  Wages. 

I  have  to  submit  the  following  particulars  of  changes  in  money 
wages  between  a  period  forty  to  fifty  years  ago — it  is  not  possible  to 
get  the  same  year  in  all  cases  to  start  from — and  a  period  about 
two  years  ago,  which  may  be  taken  as  the  present  time.  This 
comparison  leaves  out  of  account  the  length  of  hours  of  work, 
which  is  a  material  point  I  shall  notice  presently.. 

K  2 


132 


OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 


Comparison  of  Wages  Fifty  Tears  ago  and  at  Present  Time  [1888.] 

(From  '  Miscellaneous  Statistics  of  the  United  Kingdom,'  and  Porter's 
'  Progress  of  the  Nation.') 


Wages  fifty 

Wages 
present 

time. 
Per  week 

Increase  or 

Occupation 

Place 

.vears  ago. 

Decrease. 

Per  week 

Amount  per  cent 

£    g. 

d. 

£  s. 

d. 

s. 

d. 

Carpenters . 

Manchester 

1     4 

0 

1  14 

0 

10 

0   plus   42 

Glasgow  . 

0  14 

0 

1     6 

0 

12 

0      „      85 

Bricklayers 

Manchester1    . 

1     4 

0 

1  16 

0 

12 

0 

,      50 

„ 

Glasgow . 

0  15 

0 

1     7 

0 

12 

0 

,      80 

Masons 

Manchester1    . 

1     4 

0 

1     9 

10 

5 

10 

,      24 

„            ... 

Glasgow  , 

0  14 

0 

1     3 

8 

9 

8 

,      69 

Miners 

Staffordshire   . 

0     2 

82 

0     4 

02 

1 

4 

,      50 

Pattern  Weavers 

Huddersfleld  . 

0  16 

0 

1     5 

0 

9 

0 

.      65 

Wool  Scourers    . 

>* 

0  17 

0 

1     2 

0 

5 

0 

,      30 

Mule  Spinners    . 

» 

1     5 

6 

1  10 

0 

4 

6 

,      20 

Weavers 

0  12 

0 

1      6 

0 

14 

0 

,    115 

Warpers  and  Beamers 

,, 

0  17 

0 

I     7 

0 

10 

0 

,      58 

Winders  and  Pieelers . 

0     6 

0 

0  11 

0 

5 

0 

,      83 

Weavers  (men)  . 

Bradford 

0     8 

3 

1     0 

6 

12 

3 

,    150 

Reeling  and  Warping 

0     7 

9 

0  15 

6 

7 

9 

„    100 

Spinning  (children)    . 

" 

0     4 

5 

0  11 

6 

7 

1 

,    160 

1825. 


Wages  per  day. 


— (Extract  from  'Progress  of  the  Working  Classes  in   the  Last 
Half  Century,''  p.  5.) 

Thus  in  all  cases  where  I  have  found  it  possible  from  the 
apparent  similarity  of  the  work  to  make  a  comparison,  there  is  an 
enormous  apparent  rise  in  money  wages,  ranging  from  20,  and  in 
most  cases  from  50,  to  100  per  cent.,  and  in  one  or  two  instances 
more  than  100  per  cent.1  This  understates,  I  believe,  the  real 
extent  of  the  change.  Thus  builders'  wages  are  given  at  the 
earlier  date  as  so  much  weekly,  whereas  in  the  later  returns  a  dis- 
tinction is  made  between  summer  and  winter  wages,  the  hours  of 
labour  being  less  in  winter,  and,  as  the  wages  are  so  much  per 
hour,  the  week's  wages  being  also  less,  so  that  it  has  been  possible 
to  strike  a  mean  for  the  later  period,  while  it  does  not  appear  that 
anything  more  is  meant  at  the  early  period  than  the  usual  weekly 
wage,  which  would  be  the  summer  wage.  Without  making  this 
point,  however,  it  is  obvious  that  in  all  cases  there  is  a  very  great 
1  The  mean  of  the  percentages  of  increase  is  over  70. 


PROGRESS   OF  THE  WOKKING   CLASSES  138 

rise. — (Extract  from  '  Progress  of  the  Working  Classes  in  the  Last 
Half  Century,'  p.  6.) 

A  third  fact  on  which  I  desire  to  lay  some  stress  in  a  question 
of  the  average  improvement  in  money  wages  is  the  very  great 
improvement  which  has  taken  place  in  the  wages  of  the  lowest 
class  of  labour.  The  tendency  of  the  economic  changes  of  the  last 
fifty  years  has  been  to  reduce  the  proportion  of  this  description  of 
labour  to  the  total  mass  ;  its  numbers  have  diminished  on  account 
of  the  openings  for  labour  in  other  directions,  but  the  diminution 
has  gone  along  with  a  steady  improvement  in  the  condition  of  the 
most  unskilled  labourers  themselves.  —  (Extract  from  Giffen, 
'  Further  Notes  on  the  Progress  of  the  Working  Classes  in  the  Last 
Half  Century;  p.  38.) 

As  to  agricultural  labourers,  Sir  James  Caird,  in  his  '  Landed 
Interest '  (p.  65),  puts  the  rise  at  00  per  cent,  as  compared  with 
the  period  just  before  the  repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws,  and  there  is 
much  other  evidence  to  the  same  effect. — (Extract from  'Progress 
of  the  Working  Classes  in  the  Last  Half  Century;  p.  7.) 

In  Great  Britain  fifty  years  ago  the  agricultural  and  non- 
agricultural  labourers  were  in  nearly  equal  proportions.  Now  the 
non-agricultural  is  three-fourths  of  the  whole,  the  agricultural 
being  one-eighth  in  Great  Britain  and  one-eighth  in  Ireland. 

The  mere  transfer  of  labourers  to  this  extent  from  the  agricul- 
tural to  the  non-agricultural  class  implies  an  increased  wage 
averaging  about  83  per  cent.  For  whereas  600  labourers  fifty 
years  ago  earned  £24,000,  now  they  would  earn  £31,500,  apart 
from  any  increase  in  their  actual  wage.  But  allowing  for  this 
increase — 50  per  cent. — the  600  would  now  earn  £47,250  instead 
of  £24,000. — ('  Further  Notes  on  the  Progress  of  the  Working 
Classes  in  the  Last  Half  Century;  1888,  pp.  36  and  37.) 

Houks   of  Labouk. 

While  the  money  wages  have  increased  as  we  have  seen,  the 
hours  of  labour  have  diminished.  It  is  difficult  to  estimate  what 
the  extent  of  this  diminution  has  been  ;  but  collecting  one  or  two 
scattered  notices,  I  should  be  inclined  to  say  very  nearly  20  per 
cent.  There  has  been  at  least  this  reduction  in  the  textile, 
engineering,  and  house-building  trades.     The  workman  gets  from 


184  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

50  to  100  per  cent,  more  money  for  20  per  cent,  less  work  ;  in 
round  figures,  he  has  gained  from  70  to  120  per  cent,  in  fifty  years 
in  money  return.  It  is  just  possible,  of  course,  that  the  workman 
may  do  as  much,  or  nearly  as  much,  in  the  shorter  period  as  he  did 
in  his  longer  hours.  Still,  there  is  the  positive  gain  in  his  being 
less  time  at  his  task,  which  many  of  the  classes  still  tugging 
lengthily  day  by  day  at  the  oar  would  appreciate.  The  workman 
may  have  been  wise  or  unwise  in  setting  much  store  by  shorter 
hours  in  bettering  himself,  but  the  shortening  of  the  hours  of 
labour  is  undoubtedly  to  be  counted  to  the  good  as  well  as  the 
larger  money  return  he  obtains. — (Extract  from  '  Progress  of  the 
Working  Classes  in  the  Last  Half  Century,''  p.  8.) 

Wages  and  Prices. 

While  there  was  a  moderate  rise  of  prices  all  round  between 
the  years  1847-50,  just  before  the  new  gold  came  on  the  market, 
and  the  year  1862,  when  Mr.  Jevons  published  his  celebrated 
essay,  a  rise  not  exceeding  about  20  per  cent.,  yet  within  the 
last  twenty  years  tins  rise  has  disappeared,  and  prices  are  back  to 
the  level,  or  nearly  to  the  level,  of  1847-50.  The  conclusion  is  that, 
taking  things  in  the  mass,  the  sovereign  goes  as  far  as  it  did 
forty  or  fifty  years  ago,  while  there  are  many  new  things  in 
existence  at  a  low  price  which  could  not  then  have  been  bought  at  all. 
If,  in  the  interval,  the  average  money  earnings  of  the  working 
classes  have  risen  between  50  and  100  per  cent.,  there  must 
have  been  an  enormous  change  for  the  better  in  the  means  of 
the  working  man,  unless  by  some  wonderful  accident  it  has 
happened  that  his  special  articles  have  changed  in  a  different  way 
from  the  general  run  of  prices. — (Extract  from  '  Progress  of  the 
Working  Classes  in  the  Last  Half  Century,'  pp.  8  and  9.) 

Take  wheat.  It  is  notorious  that  wheat,  the  staff  of  life,  has 
been  lower  on  the  average  of  late  years  than  it  was  before  the  Free 
Trade  era. 

Comparing  the  ten  years  before  1846  with  the  last  ten  years, 
what  we  find- is  that,  while  the  average  price  of  wheat  in  1837-46 
was  58s.  Id.,  it  was  48s.  del.  only  in  the  last  ten  years — a 
reduction  not  of  5s.  merely,  but  10s. — (Extracts  from  '  Progress  of 
the  Working  Classes  in  the  Last  Half  Century,'  p.  9.) 


PKOGKESS   OF  THE    WOKJOJNG   CLASSES  135 

Wheat  had  quite  a  special  importance  fifty  years  ago,  and  the 
fact  that  it  no  longer  has  the  same  importance — that  we  have 
ceased  to  think  of  it  as  people  did  fifty  years  ago — is  itself 
significant.  In  1839-40  the  former  stood  at  68s.  8d.  the  cwt., 
and  in  1888  it  was  21s.  9d.  Cotton  cloth  was  5§dL  per  yard,  and 
this  was  in  1888  d£d.  But  meat  had  greatly  increased  in  price — 
e.g.,  inferior  beasts  per  8  lbs.  were  3s.  Id.  in  1840,  and  4s.  3|a.  in 
1882.  Inferior  sheep,  in  1840  3s.  5d.,  in  1882  were  5s.  Id.  the  8  lbs. 
— ('  Progress  of  the  Working  Classes  in  the  Last  Half  Century,' 
pp.  10,  11.) 

The  kind  of  meat  which  was  mainly  accessible  to  the  work- 
man fifty  years  ago,  viz.  bacon,  has  not,  it  will  be  seen,  increased 
sensibly  in  price. — (Extract  from  'Progress  of  the  Working  Classes 
in  the  Last  Half  Century,'  1888,  p.  11.) 


Wages  and  House  Rent. 

Only  one  question  remains.  Various  commodities,  it  may  be 
admitted,  have  fallen  in  price,  but  house  rent,  it  is  said,  has  gone 
up.  We  have  heard  a  good  deal  lately  of  the  high  prices  of  rooms 
in  the  slums.  When  we  take  things  in  the  mass,  however,  we  find 
that,  however  much  some  workmen  may  suffer,  house  rent  in  the 
aggregate  cannot  have  gone  up  in  a  way  to  neutralise  to  any 
serious  extent  the  great  rise  in  the  money  wages  of  the  workman. 
It  appears  that  in  1834,  when  the  house  duty,  which  bad  existed  up 
to  that  date,  was  abolished,  the  annual  value  of  dwelling-houses 
charged  to  duty  was  t'l 2,603,000,  the  duty  1  icing  levied  on  all  houses 
above  £10  rental  in  Great  Britain.  In  1881-82  the  annual  value 
of  dwelling-houses  charged  to  duty,  the  duty  being  levied  on  houses 
above  £20  only,  was  £89,845,000,  while  the  value  of  the  houses 
between  £10  and  £20  was  £17,040,000,  making  a  total  of 
£56,885,000,  or  between  four  and  five  times  the  total  of  fifty  years 
ago.  Population,  however,  in  Great  Britain  has  increased  from  about 
I65  millions  in  1831  to  nearly  30  millions  in  1881,  or  nearly  100  pel- 
cent.  Allowing  for  this,  the  increase  in  value  would  be  about 
£32,000,000,  on  a  total  of  about  £25,000,000,  which  may  be  con- 
sidered the  increased  rent  which  householders  above  ±10  have  to 
pay,  the  increase  being  about  130  per  cent.  Assuming  that  houses 
under  £10   have    increased  in  proportion,   it   may   be    considered 


136 


OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 


that  house  rents  are  now  one  and  a  half  times  more  than  they  were 
fifty  years  ago.  In  other  words,  a  workman  who  paid  £3  a  year 
fifty  years  ago  would  now  pay  £7.  10s.  Even,  however,  if  rent  were 
a  fourth  part  of  the  workman's  earnings  fifty  years  ago,  he  would 
still  be  much  better  off  at  the  present  time  than  he  was.  His  whole 
wages  have  doubled,  while  the  prices  of  no  part  of  his  necessary 
consumption,  except  rent,  as  we  have  seen,  have  increased  ;  on  the 
contrary,  they  have  rather  diminished.  Say,  then,  that  the  rent, 
which  was  a  fourth  part  of  his  expenditure,  has  increased  one  and 
a  half  times,  while  his  whole  wage  has  doubled,  the  account  on  a 
wage  of  20s.  fifty  years  ago,  and  40s.  now,  would  stand  : — 


— 

Fifty  years  ago 

Present  time 

Wage         .... 

Deduct  for  rent          .... 

s.    d. 
20     0 

5     0 

S.     d. 
40     0 

12     6 

Balance  for  other  purposes 

15     0 

27     G 

showing    still    an    enormous     improvement    in    the    workman's 
condition. 

It  may  be  pointed  out,  however,  that  houses  are  undoubtedly  of 
better  value  all  round  than  they  were  fifty  years  ago.  More  rent  is 
paid  because  more  capital  is  in  the  houses,  and  they  are  better 
houses.  It  appears  also  that  fifty  years  ago  there  were  far  more 
exemptions  than  there  are  now,  rural  dwellings  particularly  being 
favoured  as  regards  exemption.  The  increase  of  rent  for  the  same 
accommodation,  there  is  consequently  reason  to  believe,  has  not 
been  nearly  so  great  as  these  figures  would  appear  to  show.  It  has 
further  to  be  considered  that  the  whole  annual  value  of  the 
dwelling-houses  under  £10  even  now  is  £11, 885,000  only,  the 
number  of  houses  being  3,124,000.  This  must  be  a  very  small  pro- 
portion of  the  aggregate  earnings  of  those  portions  of  the  working 
classes  who  live  in  houses  under  £10  rent ;  and  even  adding  to  it 
the  value  of  all  the  houses  up  to  £20,  which  would  bring  up  the 
total  to  34,925,000,  the  proportion  would  still  be  very  small.  On 
the  five  million  families  at  least  of  the  working  classes  in  Great 


PROGRESS   OF   THE   WORKING   CLASSES  137 

Britain  the  sum  would  come  to  about  £1  per  family,  which  is  not 
the  main  portion  of  an  average  working  man's  expenditure.1 

We  return,  then,  to  the  conclusion  that  the  increase  of  the  money 
wages  of  the  working  man  in  the  last  fifty  years  corresponds  to  a 
real  gain.  While  his  wages  have  advanced,  most  articles  he  con- 
sumes have  rather  diminished  in  price,  the  change  in  wheat  being 
especially  remarkable  and  significant  of  a  complete  revolution  in 
the  condition  of  the  masses.  The  increased  price  in  the  case  of  one 
or  two  articles — particularly  meat  and  house  rent — is  insufficient  to 
neutralise  the  general  advantages  which  the  workman  has  gained. 
Meat  formerly  was  a  very  small  part  of  his  consumption  ;  and 
allowing  to  house  rent  a  much  larger  share  of  his  expenditure  than 
it  actually  bore,  the  increase  in  amount  would  still  leave  the 
workman  out  of  his  increased  wage  a  larger  margin  than  he  had 
before  for  miscellaneous  expenditure.  There  is  reason  to  believe 
also  that  the  houses  are  better,  and  that  the  increased  house  rent  is 
merely  the  higher  price  for  a  superior  article  which  the  workman 
can  afford. — {Extract  from  'Progress  of  the  Working  Classes  in  the 
Last  Half  Century,'  1888,  pp.  11,  12,  and  13.) 


Health  and  Longevity. 

Do  the  people  live  longer  than  they  did '?  Here  I  need  not 
detain  you.  A  very  effective  answer  was  supplied  last  session  by 
Mr.  Humphreys  in  his  able  paper  on  '  The  Recent  Decline  in  the 
English  Death-rate.'2  Mr.  Humphreys  there  showed  conclusively 
that  the  decline  in  the  death-rate  in  the  last  five  years,  187G-80, 
as  compared  with  the  rates  on  which  Dr.  Farr's  English  Life  Table 

1  It  may  be  convenient  to  note  here  that  the  figures  as  to  dwelling- 
houses  which  I  have  made  use  of  are  those  relating  to  the  Inhabited 
House  Duty.  The  figures  as  to  houses  in  the  Income  Tax  Returns 
include  shops  and  factories  as  well  as  dwelling-houses,  and  are  not 
available  in  a  question  of  house  rent.  I  have  also  omitted  the  question 
of  rates.  The  rates  per  poimd,  however,  have  not  increased  as  compared 
with  what  they  were  formerly,  and  it  would  make  no  material  difference 
if  they  were  to  be  included.  The  workman's  payment  for  rates  and  rent 
together  cannot  have  increased  more  than  is  here  stated  for  rent. 

2  See  Statistical  Society's  Journal,  vol.  xlvi.  p.  195,  &c. 


lo8  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

was  based — rates  obtained  in  the  years  1838-54  —amounted  to 
from  28  to  82  per  cent,  in  males  at  each  quinquenniad  of  the 
twenty  years  5-25,  and  in  females  at  each  quinquenniad  from  5-35 
to  between  24  and  35  per  cent. ;  and  that  the  effect  of  this  decline 
in  the  death-rate  is  to  raise  the  mean  duration  of  life  among  males 
from  39'9  to  41*9  years,  a  gain  of  2  years  in  the  average  duration  of 
life,  and  among  females  from  41*9  to  45*3  years,  a  gain  of  nearly 
3^  years  in  the  average  duration  of  life.  Mr.  Humphreys  also 
showed  that  by  far  the  larger  proportion  of  the  increased  duration 
of  human  life  in  England  is  lived  at  useful  ages,  and  not  at  the 
dependent  ages  of  either  childhood  or  old  age.  This  little  state- 
ment is  absolutely  conclusive  on  the  subject,  but  we  are  apt 
to  overlook  how  much  the  figures  mean.  No  such  change 
could  take  place  without  a  great  increase  in  the  vitality  of  the 
people.  Not  only  have  fewer  died,  but  the  masses  who  have  lived 
must  have  been  healthier  and  have  suffered  less  from  sickness  than 
they  did.  Though  no  statistics  are  available  on  this  point,  we 
must  assume  that  like  causes  produce  like  effects ;  and  if  the 
weaker,  who  would  otherwise  have  died,  have  been  able  to  survive, 
the  strong  must  also  have  been  better  than  they  would  otherwise 
have  been.  From  the  nature  of  the  figures  also  the  improvement 
must  have  been  among  the  masses,  and  not  among  a  select  class 
whose  figures  throw  up  the  average.  The  figures  to  be  affected 
relate  to  such  large  masses  of  population  that  so  great  a  change  in 
the  average  could  not  have  occurred  if  only  a  small  percentage  of 
the  population  had  improved  in  health. —  {Extract  from  l  Progress 
of  the  Working  Glasses  in  the  Last  Half  Century,'  1888, 
pp.  15  and  16.) 

Paupeeism. 

Next  as  regards  pauperism  ;  here  again  the  figures  are  so  im- 
perfect that  we  cannot  go  back  quite  fifty  years.  It  is  matter  of 
history,  however,  that  pauperism  was  nearly  breaking  down  the 
country  half  a  century  ago.  The  expenditure  on  poor  relief  early 
in  the  century  and  down  to  1830-31  was  nearly  as  great  at  times  as 
it  is  now.  With  half  the  population  in  the  country  that  there  now 
is,  the  burden  of  the  poor  was  the  same.  Since  1849,  however,  we 
have  continuous  figures,  and  from  these  we  know  that,  with  a  con- 


rROGRESS   OF  THE   WORKING   CLASSES 


139 


stantly  increasing  population,  there  is  an  absolute  decline  in  the 
amount  of  pauperism.     The  earliest  and  latest  figures  are :— 

Paupers  in  Receipt  op  Relief  in  the  Undermentioned  Years 
at  Given  Dates. 


— 

1849 

1881 

England      ..... 

934,000 

803,000 

Scotland 

122,000' 

102,000 

Ireland 

620,000 

109,000 

United  Kingdom . 

1,676,000 

1,014,000 

1  1859. 

Thus  in  each  of  the  three  divisions  of  the  United  Kingdom  there 
is  a  material  decline,  and  most  of  all  in  Ireland,  the  magnitude  of 
the  decline  there  being  no  doubt  due  to  the  fact  that  the  figures  are 
for  a  period  just  after  the  great  famine.  But  how  remote  we  seem 
to  be  from  those  days  of  famine  ! 

Savings. 

Last  of  all  we  come  to  the  figures  of  savings  banks.  A  fifty 
years'  comparison  gives  the  following  results  for  the  whole 
kingdom  : — ■ 


Number  of  depositors  . 
Amount  of  deposits 
,,         per  depositor. 


4,140,000 

£'80,331,000 

£11) 


— an  increase  of  ten- fold  in  the  number  of  depositors,  and  of 
five  fold  and  more  in  the  amount  of  deposits  !  It  seems  obvious 
from  these  figures  that  the  habit  and  means  of  saving  have  become 
widely  diffused  in  these  fifty  years.     The  change  is,  of  course,  in 


140  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

part  due  to  a  mere  change  in  the  facilities  offered  for  obtaining 
deposits  ;  but  allowing  ample  margin  for  the  effect  of  increased 
facilities,  we  have  still  before  us  evidence  of  more  saving  among  the 
masses. — {Extract  from  '  Progress  of  the  Working  Classes  in  the 
Last  Half  Century,'  1888,  pp.  18  and  19.) 

Wider  Distribution  of  Personal  Property. 

Taking  them  in  the  lump,  and  not  pressing  comparisons  between 
the  three  divisions  of  the  United  Kingdom,  or  any  other  points  of 
detail  which  might  be  dangerous,  we  appear  to  be  safe  in  the  main 
conclusion  that  the  number  of  owners  of  personal  property  liable  to 
probate  duty  has  increased  in  the  last  fifty  years  more  than  the 
increase  of  population,  and  that  on  the  average  these  owners  are 
only  about  15  per  cent,  richer  than  they  were,  while  the  individual 
income  of  the  working  classes  has  increased  from  50  to  100  per 
cent. 

The  next  piece  of  statistics  I  have  to  refer  to  is  the  number  of 
separate  assessments  in  that  part  of  Schedule  D  known  as  Part  1, 
viz.  Trades  and  Professions,  which  excludes  public  companies  and 
their  sources  of  income,  where  there  is  no  reason  to  believe  that 
the  number  of  separate  assessments  corresponds  in  any  way  to  the 
number  of  individual  incomes. — (Extract  from  '  Progress  of  the 
Working  Classes  in  the  Last  Half  Century,'  p.  23.) 

Here  the  increase  in  all  classes,  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest, 
is  between  two  and  three  times,  or  rather  more  than  three  times, 
with  the  exception  of  the  highest  class  of  all,  where  the  numbers 
however,  are  quite  inconsiderable.  Again  a  proof,  I  think,  of  the 
great  diffusion  of  wealth  so  far  as  the  assessment  of  income  to  in- 
come tax  under  Schedule  D  may  be  taken  as  a  sign  of  the  person 
assessed  having  wealth  of  some  kind,  which  1  fear  is  not  always  the 
case.  If  the  owners  of  this  income,  at  least  of  the  smaller  incomes, 
are  to  be  considered  as  not  among  the  capitalists,  but  among  the 
working  classes — a  very  arguable  proposition — then  the  increase  of 
the  number  of  incomes  from  £150  up  to,  say,  £1,000  a  year  is  a  sign 
of  the  increased  earnings  of  working  classes  which  are  not  usually 
thought  of  by  that  name.  The  increase  in  this  instance  is  out  of 
all  proportion  to  the  increase  of  population. 

In  giving  these  figures  I  have  omitted  the  incomes  under 
£150.     There   is  quite  a  want  of  satisfactory  data  for  any  com- 


PROGRESS  OF  THE  WORKING-  CLASSES 


141 


Number  of  Persons  of  Different  Amounts  of  Income  charged 
under  Schedule  D,  in  1843  and  1879-80,  compared  (in 
England).1 


— 

1843 

1879-80 

£ 

£ 

150  and  under 

200  . 

39,366 

130,101 

200 

5 

300  . 

28,370 

88,445 

300 

, 

400  . 

13,429 

39,896 

400 

, 

500  . 

6,781 

16,501 

500 

, 

600  . 

4,780 

11,317 

600 

, 

700  . 

2,672 

6,894 

700 

, 

800  . 

1,874 

4,054 

800 

» 

900  . 

1,442 

3,595 

900 

1,000  . 

894 

1,396 

1,000 

, 

2,000  . 

4,22  S 

10,352 

2,000 

, 

3,000  . 

1,235 

3,131 

3,000 

,, 

4,000  . 

526 

1,430 

4,000 

5,000  . 

339 

758 

5,000 

, 

10,000  . 

493 

1,439 

10,000 

n 

50,000  . 

200 

785 

50,000  and 

upwards 
Total  . 

8 

68 

106,637 

320,162 

1  The  figures  for  1843  cannot  be  given  for  either  Scotland  or  Ireland. 

parison,  I  think,  except  as  regards  incomes  actually  subject  to 
assessment,  and  the  data  at  the  beginning  of  the  period  are  specially 
incomplete. 

Whichever  way  we  look  at  the  figures,  therefore,  we  have 
this  result,  that  while  the  increase  of  personal  property  per  head 
of  the  capitalist  class,  according  to  the  probate  returns,  is  compara- 
tively small,  being  only  about  15  per  cent.,  yet  there  is  an  increase 
of  the  number  of  people  receiving  good  incomes  from  trades  and 
professions  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  increase  of  population.  We 
cannot  but  infer  from  this  that  the  number  of  the  moderately  rich 
is  increasing,  and  that  there  is  little  foundation  for  the  assertion 
that  the  rich  are  becoming  richer.  All  the  facts  agree.  The 
working  classes  have  had  large  additions  to  their  means ; 
capital  has  increased  in  about  equal  ratio ;  but  the  increase  of 
capita]  per  head  of  the  capitalist  classes  is  by  no  means  so  great 
as  the  increase  of  working-class    incomes. —  [Extract  from  'Pro- 


142 


OLD-AGE    PENSIONS 


gress  of  the   Working   Classes  in  the  Last  Half  Century,'  1888, 
pp.  24  and  25.) 

Working-class  Income. 
Progress  of  National  Capital  paying  Probate  Duty. 


1838 

Present  time 

Increase 

Amount 

Per  cent. 

Amount  of  capital     . 
Amount  per  estate     . 

£ 
55,000,000 

2,200 

£ 
140,000,000 

2,500 

£ 
85,000,000 

300 

155 

Note. — Increase  of  working  income  per  head,  100  per  cent. 

From  this  it  appears  that  the  increase  of  what  is  known  as 
working-class  income  in  the  aggregate  is  greater  than  that  of  any 
other  class,  being  160  per  cent.,  while  the  return  to  capital  and  the 
return  to  what  are  called  the  capitalist  classes,  whether  it  is  from 
capital  proper  or,  as  I  maintain,  a  return  only  in  the  nature  of  wages, 
has  only  increased  about  100  per  cent.,  although  capital  itself  has 
increased  over  150  per  cent.  At  the  same  time,  the  capitalist 
classes  themselves  have  greatly  increased  in  number,  so  that 
the  amount  of  capital  possessed  among  them  per  head  has 
only  increased  15  per  cent.,  notwithstanding  the  great  in- 
crease in  capital  itself,  and  the  average  income  per  head  can 
have  hardly  increased  at  all.  On  the  other  hand,  as  the  masses 
of  the  nation,  taking  the  United  Kingdom  altogether,  have  only 
increased  about  30  per  cent,  since  1813,  when  these  income  tax 
figures  begin,  while  their  aggregate  incomes  have  increased  160  per 
cent.,  it  is  explained  how  these  incomes  have  gained,  individually, 
about  100  per  cent.,  as  against  hardly  any  increase  at  all  in  the  in- 
comes of  what  are  called  the  capitalist  classes,  on  the  average.  Thus 
the  rich  have  become  more  numerous,  but  not  richer  individually  ; 
the  '  poor  '  are,  to  some  smaller  extent,  fewer ;  and  those  who 
remain  '  poor '  are,  individually,  twice  as  well  off  on  the  average 
as  they  were  fifty  years  ago.  The  '  poor  '  have  thus  had  almost  all 
the  benefit  of  the  great  material  advance  of  the  last  fifty  years. — 
{Extract  from  '  Progress  of  the  Working  Classes  in  the  Last 
Half  Century;  1888,  p.  28.) 


PROGRESS   OF   THE   WORKING   CLASSES 


1  18 


Property  per  Head  of  Population. 

A  short  table,  putting  the  leading  results  together,  and  introduc- 
ing a  comparison  per  head  all  through,  may  be  interesting  : — 

Growth  of  Capital  and  Population  in  England  and  the   United 
Kingdom  since  1600.    (In  Round  Figures.) 


Year 

Population 

Property 

Property  per 
head 

Millions 

Millions  sterling 

£ 

1600  (British  Merchant,  &c.)      . 

4* 

100 

22 

1680  (Petty) 

5* 

250 

46 

1690  (Gregory  King-Davenant). 

5± 

320 

58 

1720  (British  Merchant)    . 

H 

370 

57 

1750  (Various) 

7 

500 

71 

1800  (Beeke) 

!) 

1,500 

107 

Great  Britain. 

11 

1 ,750 

160 

United  Kingdom. 

1812  (Colquhoun)       .... 

17 

2,700 

160 

1822  (Colquhoun -Lowe)     .         . 

21 

2,500 

120 

1833  (Colquhoun-Pablo  de  Pabrer)     . 

25 

3,600 

144 

1845  (Income  tax)      .... 

28 

4,000 

143 

1865 

30 

6,000 

200 

1875 

33 

8,500 

260 

Present  time  [1885]   .... 

37 

10,000 

270 

The  changes  are  thus  constantly  in  an  upward  direction,  with 
the  exception  of  the  short  period  between  1812  and  1822,  when 
allowance  had  to  be  made  for  the  fall  in  prices.  No  doubt  part  of 
the  rise,  with  the  exception  of  that  in  the  present  century,  may  be 
ascribed  to  the  rise  in  prices  which  undoubtedly  took  place  in  the 
first  year  of  the  seventeenth  and  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth 
century ;  but  on  the  whole  there  is  a  vast  real  advance,  as  well  as  a 
nominal  advance  all  through.  As  already  remarked,  as  far  as  the 
increase  in  the  present  century  is  concerned,  comparing  the  latest 
with  the  earliest  date,  no  part  can  be  ascribed  to  the  rise  of  prices, 
since  prices  are  now  at  the  lowest  level  on  which  they  have  been 
since  the  beginning  of  the  century.  There  may  have  been  some 
such  rise  affecting  the  valuations  of  1865  and  1875,  but  that  rise 
has  since  been  lost,  and  comparing  the  present  time  with  a  date 
like  1812,  and  perhaps  1800,  there  is  undoubtedly  a  fall  of  prices. 


144 


OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 


It  is  interesting  to  observe  also  the  variations  in  the  amounts  of 
some  of  the  principal  items  of  property  and  their  proportions  to  the 
total.  I  need  only  show  the  two  items,  land  and  houses,  and  at 
one  or  two  of  the  dates  only  : — 


Land  and  Houses. 

Summary  showing  the  Growth  op  Lands  and  Houses  in  their 
Proportion  to  Total  Property. 


Land                                        Houses 

Amount 

Proportion 

per  cent,  of 

total 

Amount 

Proportion 
per  cent,  of 

total 

England. 
1690  (Gregory  King)     . 
1800  (Beeke) 

United  Kingdom. 
1812  (Colquhovtn). 

1865 

1875 

1885 

Millions 

sterling 

180 

600 

1,200 
1,864 
2,007 
1,691 

60 
40 

44 
30 
24 
17 

Millions 
sterling 
45 
180 

400 
1,031 
1,420 
1,927 

15 
15 

15 
17 
17 
19 

Thus  lands,  from  constituting  at  the  beginning  of  the  period 
00  per  cent,  of  the  property  of  the  country,  and  while  forming  as 
late  as  1865  about  30  per  cent,  of  the  property,  do  not  now  consti- 
tute 20  per  cent,  of  the  total,  there  having  also  been  in  the  most 
recent  years  an  absolute  decrease  in  amount,  while  other  capital  is 
increasing.  Houses,  on  the  other  hand,  maintain  a  rather  increas- 
ing proportion  of  a  total  property,  which  is  itself  constantly 
increasing  in  amount ;  and  in  the  last  period  of  all  this  tendency 
has  been  accentuated  till  houses — buildings — have  come  to  consti- 
tute a  fifth  part  of  the  total  property  of  the  country.  Changes  like 
this  have  undoubtedly  been  in  progress.  The  proportion  of 
individual  property  held  in  land  has  been  steadily  diminishing, 
other  property  increasing  by  leaps  and  bounds,  while  land,  though 
participating  in  the  unearned  increment,  has  improved  more 
slowly,  and  of  late  years  has  diminished  absolutely  in  value, 
owing  to  the  unearned  increment  having  for  the  moment  dis- 
appeared under  the  influence  of  foreign  competition.     At  the  same 


PROGRESS   OF   THE   WORKING   CLASSES  145 

time  the  progress  of  civilisation  is  steadily  marked  by  the  growth 
and  improvement  of  buildings,  which  increase  not  only  with 
population  and  the  increase  of  property  generally,  but  in  even  a 
greater  ratio. 

Levelling  Up. 

This  is  hardly  the  place  to  introduce  general  economic  remarks 
or  deduce  special  lessons  from  the  figures.  I  should  like,  however, 
just  to  say  a  word,  in  passing,  on  a  question  which  will,  perhaps, 
occur  to  many  :  How  do  these  figures  bear  on  the  problem  of  the 
improvement  or  deterioration  of  the  masses  from  period  to  period  ? 
I  think  it  has  been  sufficiently  demonstrated  that  in  the  last  fifty 
years  there  has  been  progress  all  round — in  recent  years,  as  I  need 
not  remind  you,  not  so  much  at  the  top  as  lower  down ;  but  it  is 
alleged  that  just  fifty  years  ago  the  masses  had  sustained  a  special 
deterioration.  Some  time  ago,  on  the  strength  of  mortality  and 
other  statistics,  I  put  in  a  caveat  against  this  conclusion,  and  on 
the  strength  of  the  figures  here  given  I  am  disposed  to  strengthen 
this  caveat.  All  through,  it  seems  to  me,  there  must  have  been 
improvement  all  round.  The  necessary  effect  of  a  continuous 
increase  of  capital  is  dispersal.  If  the  land  monopoly  had  been 
constantly  absorbing  more  and  more  of  the  national  earnings 
through  unearned  increment,  the  conclusion  might  have  been 
different ;  but  the  unearned  increment  is  plainly  un  j)eu  de  chose. 
What  all  the  figures  point  to  is  that  there  has  been  a  steady  levelling 
up  among  the  masses  for  several  centuries  ;  that  this  improvement 
largely  takes  the  shape  of  constant  additions  to  the  lower  middle 
class  and  the  upper  artisan  class  ;  and  that  there  is  a  residuum  which 
does  not  improve  much,  and  hardly,  by  comparison,  seems  to 
improve  at  all ;  but  this  residuum  certainly  diminishes  in  propor- 
tion, and  probably  diminishes  in  absolute  amount,  from  century  to 
century  and  from  period  to  period. — (Extract  from  Giffen, 
'  Accumulations  of  Capital  in  the  United  Kingdom,''  1875-85, 
pp.  23,  24,  25.) 

Conclusions  in  1901  (1861-1901). 

What  I  should  like  to  notice  first  of  all,  then,  is  that  the 
doubling  of  our  wealth  and  of  our  ability  to  bear  increased  burdens 

l 


146  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

does  not  depend  on  any  astonishing  change  m  the  productiveness  of 
the  industry  of  the  country.  It  depends  mainly  on  two  factors  : 
(1)  the  growth  of  population,  and  (2)  a  very  moderate  increase 
in  the  wealth  of  the  population  per  head.  If  the  population  had 
doubled,  the  wealth  per  head  remaining  the  same,  there  would  be 
no  doubt  of  the  country  having  twice  its  former  ability  to  bear 
taxation.  But  short  of  doubling,  the  population  may  increase  so 
greatly  in  a  given  time  that  a  very  moderate  addition  to  the  wealth 
per  head  may  produce  the  same  result.  Now  the  increase  of 
population  is  obscured  for  this  purpose  by  dealing  with  the  United 
Kingdom  as  a  whole,  which  causes  the  decrease  of  population  in 
Ireland  to  set  off  in  part  the  increase  in  Great  Britain,  although 
the  two  peoples  are  not  homogeneous.  If  we  put  the  two  together, 
the  increase  is  from  28-9  millions  in  1861  to  41*5  millions  in  1901, 
or  13t>  per  cent.,  which  would  require  an  increase  of  nearly  40  per 
cent,  in  the  wealth  per  head  in  the  interval  to  account  for  the 
doubling  of  the  resources  of  the  country.  But  if  we  take  Great 
Britain  only,  the  progressive  part  of  the  country,  we  find  the 
increase  of  numbers  is  from  23*1  to  37  millions,  or  60  per  cent., 
which  would  suffice  for  the  doubling  of  the  resources  of  the 
country  with  an  increase  of  25  per  cent,  only  in  individual 
wealth  per  head,  by  no  means  so  astonishing  an  increase  as  that 
which  must  be  allowed  for  with  a  smaller  increase  of  population. 
Against  such  an  increase  the  deduction  of  a  portion  of  the  poorer 
population  would  be  a  very  small  set-off. 

What  the  actual  increase  per  head  is  since  1861  has  been 
already  glanced  at.  It  cannot,  in  any  view,  be  less  than  25  per 
cent.,  in  face  of  the  figures  showing  the  growth  of  income  tax 
assessments  between  1861  and  1901  from  335^  million  £  to  788 
million  £,  or  over  130  per  cent.,  as  compared  with  a  growth  of 
population,  reckoning  Great  Britain  only,  of  60  per  cent.  This 
would  imply  an  increase  of  40  to  50  per  cent,  per  head,  and 
would  certainly  more  than  justify  the  assumption  of  an  increase 
of  25  per  cent,  only,  which  is  necessary  to  the  doubling  of  the 
resources  of  the  country.  Reckoning,  moreover,  the  changes  in 
the  income  tax  returns  by  which  the  gross  amount  is  understated 
as  compared  with  what  was  the  case  formerly— that  is,  adding 
nearly  40  million  £  to  the  above  figure  of  788  million  £ — the  increase 
then  would  be  no  less  than  110  per  cent,  as  compared  with  an 


PROGRESS   OF   THE    WORKING   CLASSES  147 

increase  of  60  per  cent,  in  population,  and  would  imply  an  increase 
of  wealth  per  head  of  over  50  per  cent. 

Comparing  1871  with  1901,  we  have  an  increase  from  465'5 
million  £  in  the  income  tax  assessments  to  the  above  figure  of 
788  million  £,  or,  rather,  828  million  £,  or  at  the  rate  of  about 
80  per  cent,  as  compared  with  an  increase  of  54  per  cent,  in 
the  population  of  Great  Britain  only.  This  would  be  equal  to  an 
increase  of  10  per  cent,  per  head,  and,  although  not  quite  doubling 
the  whole  wealth  of  the  country  in  thirty  years,  comes  very  near  to 
doing  so. 

If  it  were  possible  to  go  more  into  detail  with  the  income  tax 
figures  than  has  been  found  possible  at  short  notice,  these  con- 
clusions would  be  strongly  supported.  The  large  growth  of 
'  houses,'  for  instance,  nearly  200  per  cent.,  cannot  but  attract 
observation. 

The  great  increase  of  the  consumption  of  tea  and  sugar  has 
already  been  adverted  to,  but  the  figures  as  to  the  consumption  of 
meat  and  other  articles  in  the  supplementary  tables  are  equally 
instructive,  and  it  is  unnecessary  to  repeat  them  in  detail.  The 
evidence  is,  moreover,  cumulative,  the  facts  as  to  revenue  support- 
ing the  other  evidence  as  to  the  growth  of  wealth,  and  being 
themselves  explained  by  that  growth  as  they  could  not  otherwise 
be  explained.  Nor  is  another  fact  apparent  on  the  face  of  the 
supplementary  tables  and  of  the  income  tax  returns,  viz.,  the 
fact  of  a  decline  or  stationary  condition  of  agriculture  and  of  some 
other  industries,  inconsistent  with  this  conclusion.  There  is 
always  an  up  and  down  in  every  sort  of  industry.  New  industries 
are  continually  starting  up,  and  no  one  can  foresee  from  year  to 
year  in  what  new  directions  we  are  to  advance  and  where  it  is 
inevitable  we  should  recede.  The  point  is  to  have  an  increase  of 
wealth  and  income  on  balance,  and  not  set  too  much  store  on 
special  changes. — {Extract  from  Giffen,  '  A  Financial  Betrospect,' 
1861-1901,  pp.  12,  I'd,  and  14.) 


148  OLD-AGE    PENSIONS 


XIIlA 

PROGRESS  OF  THE  WORKING  CLASSES 

A  postscript  to  the  extracts  from  Sir  Robert  Giffen's  papers 
may  be  added. 

1.   Wages. 

In  the  Journal  of  the  Royal  Statistical  Society  are 
important  papers  by  Mr.  A.  L.  Bowley  and  Mr.  G.  H.  Wood 
on  '  Wages.'  A  note  of  the  wages  in  one  or  two  trades  may 
suffice  to  indicate  generally  their  present  position. 

Comparing  1892  with  1880,  the  general  average  of 
agricultural  wage  is  computed  at  13s.  5d.,  as  against  13s.  Id. 
in  1880,  or,  say,  nearly  3d.  in  the  £  less.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  increase  in  the  average  wages  in  the  building  trade 
stands  as  100  in  1900  to  91  in  1892  and  87  in  1880— 
showing  between  1880  and  1900  an  increase  equivalent  to 
nearly  3s.  in  the  £. 

The  average  wage  in  the  wool  and  worsted  trade  as  a 
whole  was  stationary  between  1886  and  1891 ;  or,  if  1883  be 
compared  with  1891,  in  the  former  year  it  stood  at  105  as 
compared  with  100  in  the  later  year,  a  decrease  equivalent  to 
about  lid.  in  the  £.  But  wages  in  the  printing  trade,  for 
instance,  have  advanced  greatly.  The  increase  between  1871 
and  1899  is  indicated  by  the  proportion  between  106  and 
122,  or  about  3s.  in  the  £1. 

In  considering  wages  it  is  necessary  to  take  into  account 
the  great  reduction  in  prices  in  the  past  quarter  of  a  century. 
This  very  much  exceeds  such  comparatively  small  diminutions 


PROGRESS   OF   THE   WORKING   CLASSES  149 

in  wages  as  are  above  noted.  Generally  speaking,  in  the 
decade  18G7  to  1877  the  purchasing  power  of  money  has 
increased  by  6s.  in  the  £  ;  or,  comparing  1880  and  1901, 
by  4s.  in  the  £. 

If  the  average  prices  of  forty-five  chief  commodities  between  the 
years  1867  and  1877  be  taken  as  a  standard  and  reckoned  at  100, 
the  average  comparative  prices  of  these  articles  in  1880  would  be 
equivalent  to  88  in  1880  and  to  70  in  1901. ' 

The  comparatively  large  wage  now  often  earned  by  the 
1  young  persons  '  of  the  family,  and  often  contributed  in  great 
part  to  the  family  income,  should  also  be  taken  into  account. 

In  the  following  note  some  particulars  in  regard  to  wages 
in  the  trades  above  mentioned  are  stated  in  more  detail : — 

The  term  wages  Mr.  Bowley  defines  as  'the  total  throughout 
a  year  of  all  payments  made  to  those  who  are  generally  included 
in  the  working  class  in  money,  together  with  the  value  of  all 
payments  in  kind,  privileges,  and  perquisites  at  the  price  current  at 
the  special  time  and  place.' 

The  general  average  of  the  agricultural  wage,  according  to 
his  investigations,  stands  thus  during  the  last  half  century  :  2 — 


1850  . 
1869-70 
1872  . 
1800  . 
1892   . 


s.    d. 

Index  numbers 

9     6 

71 

12     7 

94 

14  10 

111 

13     7 

101 

13     5 

100 

In  the  building  trade  the  index  numbers  for  the  same  years 
are  as  follows,  the  general  average  wage  of  the  year  1900  being 
taken  at  100  : — 

1850     .         .         .         .     66      I     1880     .         .         .         .87 
IS69     .         .         .         .75  1892     .         .         .         .91 

1872     .         .         .         .     79      I     1900     .         .         .         .100 

Between  1861  and  1891  the  increase  of  wage  in  London  has 
been  from  33s.  to  39s.  4c?. ;  in  cities  of  more  than  100,000  persons, 

1  Cf.  Journal    of   the    Royal    Statistical   Society,    vol.   lxii.   (1899), 
p.  179, '  Prices  of  Commodities,'  by  A.  Sauerbeck ;  and  vol.  lxv.  (1902),  p.  87. 
-  Journal  of  the  Royal  Statistical  Society,  vol.  lxi.  (1898),  p.  703. 


150  OLD-AGE    PENSIONS 

from  27s.  to  36s.  Ad. ;  in  cities  of  20,000  to  100,000,  from  25s.  to 
33s. ;  and  in  the  rest  of  England  and  Wales,  from  22s.  Qd.  to  30s.1 

In  the  wool  and  worsted  trade  general  index  numbers  are 
stated  as  follows  in  round  numbers,  the  wage  of  the  year  1891 
being  taken  at  100.     Thus  : — 

.  105 
.  100 
.  100 

These  index  numbers  represent  the  wages  in  an  immense 
variety  of  different  branches  of  work :  wool-sorting,  washing, 
weaving,  packing,  &c,  at  the  centres  of  the  industry. 

The  amount  of  the  wage  and  its  rise  may  be  indicated  by  a  note 
respecting  the  Bradford  district.2 


1840     . 

.     75 

1883 

1860     . 

.     90 

1886 

1866     . 

.  100 

1891 

1874-77 

.  120 

1855-57 

1886 

1891 

s.      <h 

s.     d. 

.v.       <l. 

Wool- sorters  (men) 

.  20     6 

28     4 

30     0 

Engine  Tenders 

.  25     0 

32     4 

— 

Weavers  (men) 

.  10     0 

14     7 

— 

Weavers  (women)  . 

.  10     6 

13     9 

12     9 

In  the  printing  trade  compositors'  wages  on  a  general  average 

stand  thus,  taking  the  wage  of  1860  at  100  :  3  — 

1860 100 

1871 106 

1899 122 

If  these  four  groups  of  wages  may  be  taken  as  fairly  typical,  it' 
would  seem  that,  except  in  the  building  and  printing  trades,  the 
rise  of  wages  about  the  year  1870  has  not  been  sustained,  though 
the  wage  is  considerably  higher  than  it  was  in  the  middle  of  the 
last  century  :  71  (1850)  as  against  100  in  the  case  of  the  agricul- 
tural labourer ;  75  (1840)  as  against  100  in  the  case  of  the 
worsted  and  woollen  trades  ;  and  the  building  and  printing  trades 
show  a  continuous  rise.  In  the  former  the  advance  is  equivalent 
to  the  difference  between  66  in  1850  and  100  in  1900.  In  the 
latter  the  corresponding  figures  are  in  1860  100,  in  1899  122. 

'  The  effect  of  each  limitation  of  the  hours  of  labour  has  been  to 

1  '  Builders' Wages,'  Journal  of  the  Royal  Statistical  Society, 
vol.  lxiv.  (1901),  pp.  Ill,  112. 

2  Journal  of  the  Royal  Statistical  Society,  vol.  lxv.  (1902),  pp.  125 
and  127. 

3  Journal  of  the  Royal  Statistical  Society,  vol.  lxii.  (1899),  p.  708. 


PROGRESS   OF   THE   WORKING   CLASSES  151 

raise  wages,  though  for  a  while  they  may  have  fallen  a  little. 
This  usually  operates  through  an  increase  in  the  efficiency  of 
labour,  which  maintains  or  increases  the  former  output  in  the 
lessened  hours.' ' 

2.   Housing. 

The  continued  advance  in  the  .better  housing  of  the  people 
is  indicated  by  figures  of  the  last  decade,  showing  the  increased 
number  and  value  of  smaller  houses. 

Premises  exempt  from  Inhabited  House  Duty,  as  being  of 
an  annual  value  of  less  than  £20,  have  very  largely  increased 
in  number.  The  number  of  houses  under  £10  has  decreased 
by  55,806,  or  1*6  per  cent. — a  sign  of  progress — while  the 
number  of  houses  over  £10  and  under  £15  annual  value 
has  increased  39  per  cent.,  and  the  number  of  houses  over 
£15  and  under  £20  has  also  increased  28  per  cent. 

The  following  are  detailed  figures  : — 

Premises  exempt  from  Inhabited  House  Duty2  as  being  of  an  annual 
value  under  £20,  1891-92  and  1900-1901. 


— - 

1891-92 

1900-1901 

Artisans'  Dwellings. 
Houses — 
(1)  Under  £10        .... 

14.472 

3,286,345 
-  55,000 

42,643 
3,230,519 

(2)  Over  .£10  and  under  £15 

1,122,666 
+  39  per  cent. 

1,568,678 

(3)  Over  £15  and  under  £20 

599,411 
+  28  per  cent. 

771,388 

The  animal  value  of  these  three  classes  of  houses  has  also 
increased  : — 

(1 )  £764,000,  though  there  are  55,000  houses  fewer. 

(2)  Increase,  £5,362,000,  or  41  per  cent. 

(3)  „         £2,968,000,  or  29'4  per  cent. 

1  Mr.  George  H.  Wood  on  Factory  Legislation,  Journal  of  the  "Royal 
Statistical  Society,  vol.  lxv.  (1902),  p.  313. 

-  Forty-fifth  Inland  Revenue  Report,  pp.  148-9,  1902  [Cd.  1216]. 


152 


OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 


3.    Pauperism. 
The  number  of  paupers  for  1881  and  that  in  1901  may 
be  compared  : — 




1881 

1901 

England 

Scotland     ...... 

Ireland       ...... 

803,000 
102,000 
109,000 

1,014,000 

789,689 
100,819 
101,090 

United  Kingdom 

991,598  J 

4.   Depositors  in  Savings  Banks. 

In  1881  the  depositors  numbered  4,140,000.  In  1900 
they  numbered  10,065,006. 

In  1881  the  deposits  amounted  to  £°80,334,000.  In  1900 
they  amounted  to  .±187,005,562.      - 

5.    Wider  Distribution  of  Personal  Property. 
With   regard   to   the   number    of  '  persons '   of   different 
amounts   of   income    charged   under    Schedule   D — England 
(Trades  and  Professions  only)  the  following  notes  may  serve  :— 




1879-eo- 

1897-98 

63,450  '' 

£150-  and  under    £20C 

130,101  (£160- 

-)  124,741 

200 

300 

88,445 

85,259 

300 

400 

39,896 

34,088 

400 

500 

16,501 

16,463 

500 

600 

11,317 

8,207 

600 

700 

6,894 

5.050 

700 

800 

4,054 

4,707 

800 

900 

3,595 

2,453 

900 

1,000 

1,396 

3,719 

1,000 

2,000 

10,352 

9,976 

2,000 

3,000 

3,131 

3,164 

3,000 

4,000 

1,430 

1,509 

4,000 

5,000 

758 

900 

5,000 

,         10,000 

1,439 

1,727 

10,000 

50,000 

785 

917 

50,000  and  u 

pwards 

68 

64 

*  Xot  exceeding  £1G0,  but  not  exempt. 
1  Statistical  Abstract,  1902  [Cd.  1239],  Tables  114  to  116. 
-  Exemption  now  commences  at  t'160.     The  Annual  Eeports  of  the 


PROGRESS   OF   THE    WORKING   CLASSES  153 

This  shows  that  between  the  years  1879-80  and  1897-98 
—in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  lower  limit  for  payment  of  the 
income  tax  has  been  raised  from  £150  to  £160  since  the  year 
1895 — the  number  of  persons  paying  income  tax  on  incomes 
under  £300  from  trades  and  professions  has  increased  24  per 
cent. 

6.   Working-class  Income. 

In  1885  the  national  capital  paying  probate  duty  was 
£140,000,000.  In  1893-4,  the  year  before  the  duty  was 
repealed,  it  was  £162,866,000.' 

The  net  capital  value  of  property  on  which  estate  duty 
was  paid  was  £219,489,000  in  1895-6,  and  in  1901-2 
£275,759,000. 

Between  1895-6  and  1901-2  the  number  of  estates  not 
exceeding  £300  gross  value  have  increased  from  14,975  to 
18,081-20  per  cent.— those  exceeding  £300,  but  not  £500, 
gross  value,  from  7,558  to  8,626,  or  14  per  cent. 

Altogether  these  '  small  estates  ' — that  is,  those  under  £500 
gross  value — have  increased  18  per  cent.  They  represent 
43  per  cent,  of  the  total  number  of  estates  paying  estate  duty.2 

7.    Property  per  head  of  the  Population. 

In  1885  the  capital  in  the  United  Kingdom  was  computed 
by  Sir  Eobert  Giffen  to  be  about  10,000  millions,  or  £270  a 
head  of  the  population. 

Commissioners  of  Inland  Kevenue  contain  separate  returns  of  persons 
assessed  under  Schedule  D  till  the  year  ended  April  5,  1898.  After  that 
year  there  is  a  closer  analysis  of  assessments  under  Schedules  T>  and  E 
(salaries)  which  in  the  last  Report  (the  45th,  1900-1901)  are  entered 
together  in  a  classification  of  five  headings.  This  makes  detailed  com- 
parisons difficult  except  on  the  new  basis  on  which  the  future  returns  will 
be  made.  But  the  figures  indicate  an  increase  in  the  small  salaries  and 
incomes.  As  Sir  Robert  Giffen's  figures  (1879-80)  were  for  England 
only,  the  above  figures  also  are  limited  to  England. 

1  Statistical  Abstract  (1902),  p.  36. 

3  Statistical  Abstract  (1902),  p.  37. 


154 


OLD-AGE    PENSIONS 


For  1900-01  the  total  capital  in  the  United  Kingdom  may 
be  estimated  at  15,000  millions,  or  £361  a  head.1 

8.   Land  and  Houses. 
The    value   of    property   in   land    continues   to   show   a 
decrease  ;    that   in   houses    an   increase.      The    comparison 
between  1885  and  1900-1  may  thus  be  stated  : — 
United  Kingdom. 


1885 
1900  01 


Laud,  Proportion  per  Houses, 

Millions  sterling       cent,  of  total        Millions  sterling 


1,691 
1,347 


17 

7 


1,927 
2.G604 


Proportion  per 
cent,  of  total 


19 
14 


Conclusions. 
From  these  figures,  which  refer  chiefly  to  the  last  fifteen 
years,  it  may  be  concluded  :  — 

1.  That  the  increase  of  wage  in  some  large  industries  has 
been  very  great,  while  in  some  there  has  been  a  slight  decrease. 

2.  That  the  increased  purchasing  power  of  money  is  more 
than  equivalent  to  the  increase  of  wage  in  the  more  flourish- 
ing trades,  and  obviously  very  much  more  than  covers  such 
decreases  in  wage,  as  have  been  quoted. 

1  This  estimate  follows  the  lines  adopted  by  Sir  Robert  Giffen  and  by 
Dr.  Paullin  in  his  '  1801  and  1901,  a  Contrast '  (Transactions  of  the 
Insurance  and  Actuarial  Society  of  Glasgow,  February  1902).  But  the 
income  from  Trades  and  Professions — as  returned  separately  from  '  Public 
Companies  (and  local  authorities)  '  since  1891-  92  (p.  189  :  45th  Annual 
Report,  Inland  Revenue,  1902) — has  been  taken  at  a  third  of  its  total,  on 
the  ground  that  only  that  part  of  it  is  '  income  from  stock,  equipments, 
buildings,  &c.,'  while  two-thirds  of  it  arises  '  from  personal  effort,  brains, 
&c.' ;  and  the  one-third  lias  been  taken  at  fifteen  years'  purchase.  The 
profits  from  '  Public  Companies,'  &c,  has  been  taken  at  twenty  years' 
purchase. 

2  Cf.  Inland  Revenue  45th  Report  (1902),  p.  177-  Land  in  England 
and  Scotland  is  taken  at  twenty-eight  years'  purchase,  in  Ireland  at  fifteen. 
Houses  are  taken  at  fifteen  in  England  and  Scotland,  and  at  twelve  in 
Ireland. 


PROGRESS    OF    THE    WORKING    CLASSES  155 

3.  That  there  lias  been  a  very  marked  advance  in  the 
housing  of  the  working  classes. 

4.  That  pauperism  has  decreased,  though  but  slightly. 

5.  That  the  number  of  depositors  in  savings  banks  and 
the  amounts  of  their  deposits  have  increased  with  great 
rapidity. 

6.  That  there  is  a  much  wider  distribution  of  personal 
property. 

7.  That  the  Probate  Duty  returns  up  to  1893-94  and  the 
Estate  Duty  returns  since  that  date  indicate  a  large  and 
constant  increase  in  the  number  of  small  estates — i.e.  estates 
not  exceeding  £500. 

8.  That  the  property  per  head  of  the  population  has 
increased  very  greatly  since  1885. 

9.  That  the  value  of  property  in  houses  has  largely 
increased  since  1885. 

The  continuous  progress  of  the  working  classes  is  apparent 
from  these  tests. 

The  only  point  of  bad  omen  from  the  social  side  is  the 
smallness  of  the  decrease  of  pauperism.  This,  however,  has- 
little,  if  any,  relation  to  the  question  of  the  general  wealth  of 
the  country  and  its  distribution.  The  evidence  is  ample  that 
it  is  due  to  that  public  opinion  which  of  late  years  has  mini- 
mised the  evils  of  State  dependence  and  the  responsibilities  of 
family  obligation,  and  has  advocated  schemes  for  Old-Age 
Pensions  and  other  measures  that  cannot  but  tend  to  weaken 
the  sense  of  social  duty  and  lower  the  standard  of  personal 
independence  in  the  community. 

C.  S.  L. 


156  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 


XIV 

THE  ENGLISH  COUNTRY  LABOURER  AND  THE 
POOR  LAW  IN  THE  REIGN  OF  QUEEN 
VICTORIA  l 

'  An  old,  mad,  blind,  despised  and  dying  King 

'  Rulers  who  neither  feel  nor  see  nor  know. 
A  people  starved  and  stabbed  in  the  untilled  fields, 
Religion  Christless,  Godless,  a  book  sealed, 
Are  graves,  from  which  a  glorious  phantom  may 
Burst,  to  illumine  our  tempestuous  day.' 

So  wrote  the  poet  Shelley,  describing  England  as  he  saw  it  in 
1819.  The  poor  old  King  was  gone  to  his  rest,  and  there  was 
a  more  enlightened  Government ;  otherwise  the  description 
remained  substantially  accurate  eighteen  years  later,  when  the 
Queen's  reign  began.  The  aspiration  with  which  he  concludes 
reads  now  like  a  prophecy.  To  indicate  in  faintest  outline 
how  that  prophecy  was  fulfilled — for  to  do  more  in  a  single 
paper  is  impossible— is  my  difficult  task  this  morning. 

'  A  people  starved  and  stabbed  in  the  untilled  fields  ' — 
stabbed,  that  is,  metaphorically,  by  bad  laws  and  bad  admini- 
stration. How  could  that  be  true  of  England,  of  all  countries, 
which  had  just  emerged  victorious  from  the  struggle  with 
Napoleon  ;  which  alone,  of  all  the  nations  of  Europe,  had  had 
its  fields  unravaged  by  an  enemy,  and  its  towns  unplundered  ; 
where  alone  there  was  a  wealthy  middle  class  ;  where  the  rich 

1  A  Paper  read  at  the  Hampshire  Poor  Law  Conference,  May  7,  1901, 


THE   ENGLISH   COUNTRY   LABOURER   AND   THE   POOR   LAW    157 

were  kindly  disposed,  and  even  too  lavish  in  their  charity  to 
the  poor  ;  where  the  wheaten  bread,  and  the  not  infrequent 
bacon  and  beer  of  the  labourer  would  have  seemed  abundance 
— -nay,  luxury — to  the  toil-worn,  rye-fed,  prematurely-aged 
peasants  of  no  matter  what  country  of  the  Continent '?  But 
it  was  true.  In  the  twenties  and  early  thirties  the  land  was 
only  half  tilled  ;  a  large  proportion  of  the  labourers — in  some 
parishes  more  than  half — were  more  or  less  permanently 
dependent  on  the  rates,  and  as  parish  pay  was  only  to  be  had 
where  they  were  born  and  bred,  were  practically  bound  to  the 
soil  like  serfs.  The  few  independent  labourers  were  ground 
down,  sometimes  half-starved  by  the  competition  of  the  better- 
fed  paupers.  Bands  of  unemployed  men  went  from  house  to 
house,  extorting  money  by  threats.  Night  after  night  the  sky 
was  lit  up  by  burning  stacks  and  farm-buildings — the  work  of 
incendiaries,  who,  though  admitting  their  guilt,  were  looked 
upon  by  their  fellows  as  martyrs  when  suffering  the  penalty 
of  their  crime.  Probably  no  country  in  Europe  was  so  near 
the  brink  of  revolution  as  was  England  just  before  the  Queen's 
reign  began. 

What  was  the  reason  ?  In  the  main,  simply  this.  That 
the  State  had  undertaken  the  responsibility  of  supporting  the 
people,  instead  of  leaving  every  one  to  support  himself.  A 
man  was  considered  to  have  the  right,  idle  or  industrious,  to 
parish  pay.  The  primary  law  of  human  well-being  and  pro- 
gress was  being  violated,  that  if  a  man  will  not  work,  neither 
shall  he  eat.  The  natural  incentive  to  industry,  self-preser- 
vation, was  removed,  and  so  it  came  to  pass  that  the  land  was 
filled  with  idlers,  men  consumed  more  than  they  produced, 
and  the  country  was  advancing,  not  slowly,  but  rapidly,  to 
the  brink  of  bankruptcy  and  ruin. 

The  State,  or  rather  the  parish,  got  through  its  task  of 
supporting  the  labourer  in  various  ways.  Sometimes,  to  save 
the  expense  of  supervision,  relief  was  given  without  any  work 
being  exacted  in  return.  To  prevent  his  leisure  being  a  source 
of  profit  or  amusement,  the  pauper  had  to  answer  a  roll-call 


158  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

at  fixed  times,  or  to  stand  in  the  pound  so  many  hours,  at  the 
end  of  which  he  was  paid  his  allowance,  which  was  duly 
entered  in  the  overseers'  book,  '  To  So-and-So,  standing  so 
many  hours  in  the  pound,  so  many  shillings.'  More  often  a 
scale  of  minimum  wages  was  made  out  and  published  by  the 
Justices,  graduated  according  to  the  number  of  the  labourer's 
family.  If  a  man's  wages  did  not  come  up  to  scale,  he  could 
apply  to  the  parish  for  the  balance.  Thus  a  pauper  with  a 
large  family,  legitimate  or  illegitimate,  got  better  pay  than  an 
independent  labourer  who  trusted  to  his  own  exertions, 
and  the  pauper  had  no  motive  to  work  hard,  for  the  less 
valuable  his  work  became  to  the  farmer,  the  more  he  could 
claim  from  the  parish  to  make  up  the  balance  according  to 
the  scale. 

'  The  effect  of  the  allowance  was  to  weaken,  if  not  to 
destroy  all  the  ties  of  affection  between  parent  and  child/ 
says  one  of  the  Assistant  Commissioners.  '  As  the  child 
knows  that  he  has  been  nurtured  at  the  expense  of  the  parish, 
he  has  no  filial  attachment  to  his  parents.  .  .  .  Instead  of  a 
family  being  a  source  of  care,  anxiety,  and  expense,  for  which 
a  man  hopes  to  be  rewarded  by  the  filial  return  of  assistance 
and  support  when  they  grow  up,  there  is  no  period  of  his  life 
in  which  he  tastes  less  of  solicitude,  or  in  which  he  has  the 
means  of  obtaining  all  the  necessaries  of  life  in  greater  abund- 
ance. .  .  -  No  thought  is  taken  for  the  morrow.  .  .  .  Parents 
not  only  take  no  pains  to  train  up  their  children  in  habits  of 
industry,  but  do  their  utmost  to  prevent  their  obtaining 
employment,  lest  it  should  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
parish  officers,  and  be  laid  hold  of  for  the  purpose  of  taking 
away  the  allowance.' 

At  Yattenden,  in  the  parish  accounts,  an  item  frequently 
repeated  was  :  '  To  Elizabeth  W.,  a  present  for  her  kindness 
to  her  father,  5*.'  '  Lucy  A.,  for  looking  after  her  mother 
when  ill,  3s.  6r?.'  In  another  parish  :  '  Eichard  Shilton, 
5  days  looking  after  his  family,  5s.'  The  overseer's  wife, 
herself  a  mother,  saw  nothing  wrong  in  this  :  '  For  children 


THE   ENGLISH   COUNTRY   LABOURER    AND   THE   POOR   LAW    159 

to  be  dutiful   to   their   old   and    sick   parents    was   a   great 
hindrance.' 

Another  plan  was  to  allot  paupers  to  be  employed  by 
each  ratepayer  according  to  his  assessment.  Thus  the 
Rector  of  Pulborough,  Sussex,  whose  glebe  and  tithe  were 
rated  at  £1,050,  was  called  upon  to  employ  60  labourers  at 
10s.  a  week,  besides  having  to  pay,  in  one  year,  £4*20  to  the 
poor  rate. 

Crime,  as  a  natural  consequence,  increased.  Sutton 
Courtney  had  a  population  of  830,  and  the  poor  rate  was 
£1,300.  Within  four  years,  out  of  this  one  parish,  four  men 
were  hanged  and  nine  transported.  The  parish  of  Choles- 
bury,  in  Bucks,  actually  reached  in  1832  the  fatal  goal  to 
which  so  much  of  the  country  was  tending.  The  rates  had, 
within  the  memoiy  of  persons  then  living,  risen  from  £10.  lis. 
a  year,  when  there  was  only  one  pauper,  to  £150  in  1831.  In 
1832  there  were  104  paupers  out  of  a  population  of  139,  and 
the  sum  to  be  collected  for  their  support  rose  to  £367.  Then 
the  process  of  collection  came  to  a  stop.  The  landlords  gave 
up  their  rents,  the  farmers  their  tenancies,  and  the  clergyman 
his  glebe  and  tithes.  The  parish  officers  threw  up  their 
books,  and  the  poor  assembled  at  the  rector's  door,  asking 
for  advice  and  food.  By  his  advice  the  land  was  divided 
amongst  the  able-bodied  paupers.  It  required  the  assistance 
of  private  charity  and  a  rate-in-aid  from  other  parishes  for 
two  years  to  maintain  the  able-bodied,  and  even  then  the 
aged  and  impotent  remained  a  burden  on  the  neighbouring 
parishes. 

It  is  beyond  the  scope  of  this  paper  to  describe,  even 
shortly,  the  great  and  beneficent  work  accomplished  by  the 
Poor  Law  Commissioners,  but  the  main  principles  on  which 
they  acted  are  simple  and  clear  enough.  In  a  celebrated 
passage  of  one  of  their  annual  reports  they  laid  down  the 
great  rule  that  '  the  fundamental  principle  with  respect  to 
the  legal  relief  of  the  poor  is  that  the  condition  of  the  pauper 
ought  to  be,  on  the  whole,  less  eligible  than  that  of  the  inde- 


160  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

pendent  labourer.'  '  I  wish  that  those  words  were  written 
in  every  Board-room  throughout  the  country — nay,  looking 
at  the  tone  adopted,  and  the  measures  advocated  lry  the  late 
President,  they  need,  of  late  years,  to  be  written  also — alas  ! 
that  I  should  have  to  say  it — over  the  portals  of  the  Local 
Government  Board.  Looking  back  over  the  long  years  that 
have  passed,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  in  proportion  as  they  have 
been  remembered  and  acted  up  to  pauperism  has  declined, 
and  the  condition  of  the  independent  labourer  improved.  In 
proportion  as  they  have  been  neglected,  pauperism  has 
increased,  and  the  independent  labourer  has  suffered. 

In  accordance  with  this  principle,  the  first  rule  made— as 
soon  as  workhouses  were  built — was  that  relief  outside  the 
house  was  to  be  refused  to  the  able-bodied.  Thenceforth, 
unless  they  chose  to  give  up  their  freedom  of  action,  they 
had  to  support  themselves.  Improvement  was  manifest  at 
once.  To  take  a  single  instance  :  at  Faringdon  85  labourers 
with  families,  who  for  years  had  been  constantly  dependent 
on  the  Poor  Law,  were  refused  out-relief.  Not  half  availed 
themselves  of  the  offer  of  the  house,  but  immediately  found 
means  of  providing  for  themselves.  Those  who  accepted 
stayed  one,  two,  or  three  days.  Only  two  stayed  more  than 
four  days.  Of  the  85,  it  was  found  on  inquiry  that  78  were  at 
work  in  their  respective  parishes,  and  two  in  the  vicinity,  and 
not  one  had  his  dwelling  broken  up.  A  farmer,  on  being  asked 
how  employment  had  been  found,  answered,  '  Why,  sir,  they 
were  not  worth  a  shilling  a  week  before,  and  I  would  rather 
have  had  them  off  my  ground  than  on,  always  dissatisfied 
and  idle ;  but  now  they  say  times  are  altered ;  they  have 
nothing  but  the  workhouse  to  fall  back  upon,  and  are 
becoming  as  good  labourers  as  their  more  independent  com- 
rades.' The  alleged  surplus  population  was  really  an 
artificial  creation  of  the  old  Poor  Law.  In  the  eight  counties 
of  Berks,  Bucks,  Cambridge,  Huntingdon,  Lincoln,  Norfolk, 
Suffolk,  and  Somerset,  able-bodied  pauperism  in  1834 
1  Mackay*a  History  of  the  English  Poor  Law,  vol.  iii.,  p.  282. 


THE  ENGLISH  COUNTRY  LABOURER  AND  THE  POOR  LAW  161 

amounted  to  99,896 ;  in  1839  it  had  fallen  to  35,333.  The 
decrease  was  65  per  cent,  in  able-bodied  pauperism  and  49  per 
cent,  in  pauperism  of  all  kinds.  Thenceforward  the  decrease, 
though  not  so  rapid,  was  steady,  except  in  the  year  1846,  that 
of  the  Irish  potato-famine,  when  there  was  a  bad  harvest,  and 
corn  was  dear.  In  1849  was  begun  the  system  of  yearly 
returns,  which  enabled  progress  to  be  accurately  noted. 
From  1849  to  1892,  the  lowest  point  reached,  the  ratio  per 
thousand  of  paupers  of  all  classes  to  the  population  fell 
from  62*7  per  thousand  to  25-6.  Of  the  last  decade  of 
the  reign,  when,  alas  !  the  tide  turned,  I  shall  have  to  speak 
later  on. 

If  I  have  dwelt  at  what  may  seem  undue  length  on  the 
changing  condition  of  the  pauper  section  of  the  labouring 
class,  it  must  be  remembered  that  at  the  beginning  of  the 
reign  not  only  were  a  large  proportion  of  the  labourers  in  the 
country  actual  or  potential  paupers,  but  the  independent 
wage- earners  were  hampered  and  impoverished  at  every  turn 
by  the  evil  example,  the  competition,  and  the  cost  of  the 
pauper  class.  Emancipation  from  pauperism  brought  in  its 
train  emancipation  from  other  restrictions  to  freedom.  Now 
that  a  man  was  responsible  for  getting  his  own  living,  he 
and  his  labour  could  no  longer  be  imprisoned  within  his 
native  parish,  he  must  be  allowed  to  take  it  to  the  best 
market ;  and  thus  step  by  step  the  law  of  settlement  was 
relaxed  and  simplified.  Again,  freedom  in  exchange  of 
labour  pointed  in  the  direction  of  freedom  to  buy  and  sell 
without  restriction,  and  as  the  idea  prevailed  one  article  of 
daily  consumption  after  another  was  allowed  to  come  into 
the  country  duty  free,  till  in  June,  1846,  a  great  change 
came,  the  Corn  Laws  were  abolished,  the  English  labourer 
ate  his  bread  untaxed ;  and,  as  the  years  went  on,  all 
quarters  of  the  world  were  brought  into  requisition  to 
furnish  him  with  food,  clothing,  and  comforts— latterly  with 
luxuries. 

The  penny  postage,  too,  introduced   in   1840,  had  been 

M 


162  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

a  potent  aid  and  stimulus  to  the  growing  freedom  of 
exchange  of  labour.  It  is  hard  for  us  to  realise  what  daily 
life  could  have  been  without  it.  Before  1840  the  cost  of 
a  letter  in  England  was  eightpence  or  tenpence.  Letter- 
writing  was  practically  out  of  the  power  of  the  poor,  and 
partings  involved  the  additional  pang  that  henceforth  com- 
munication was  to  cease  altogether.  Sometimes,  by  pre- 
arranged signals,  a  method  of  corresponding  without  expense 
was  carried  out,  showing  pathetically  how  great  the  need 
was.  A  letter  or  paper  would  be  sent,  unpaid,  marked  or 
distinguished  on  the  outside  in  some  way  settled  on  before- 
hand, whereby  when  it  was  put  into  the  hands  of  the 
recipient,  a  simple  message  was  conveyed — such  as  that  the 
writer  was  well,  or  ill,  or  prosperous,  or  otherwise — after 
which  it  would  be  returned  to  the  postman  unopened,  and 
thus  the  postage  saved. 

So,  too,  the  railways,  which  in  the  forties  quickly  over- 
spread the  country,  and  later  on  the  bicycle,  promoted  the 
free  exchange  of  labour.  Kailways,  like  every  other  step 
forward  in  mechanical  science,  while  they  benefited  all 
classes,  benefited  the  poorer  classes  most.  In  the  thirties, 
to  travel  from  the  north  to  the  south  was,  to  the  labourer, 
a  toilsome  pilgrimage  of  weeks,  on  foot,  or,  at  best,  in  a 
stage- waggon  going  four  miles  an  hour.  In  the  forties,  for 
a  penny  a  mile,  he  could  do  the  same  journey  in  a  few  hours 
at  the  same  speed  as  the  city  or  country  magnate.  His 
clothing,  too,  underwent  a  change.  Smock-frocks  gave  place 
to  broadcloth.  The  plentiful  and  cheap  supply  of  wool  from 
Australia  and  South  America  altered  the  material  of  under- 
clothing. The  farm  labourer  in  his  flannel  suit  on  the 
village  green  is  now  more  comfortably,  more  healthily,  more 
appropriately  dressed  than  was  the  All-England  Eleven  in 
the  thirties.  Sugar,  falling  to  a  quarter  or  a  sixth  of  its 
price,  has,  it  is  said,  by  the  extent  to  which  it  is  now 
consumed,  materially  improved  the  health  of  children,  to 
whom  it  is  an  essential  constituent    of   a   wholesome   diet. 


THE   ENGLISH   COUNTRY   LABOURER  AND   THE   POOR   LAW    163 

The  abolition  of  turnpikes  in  the  early  seventies  enticed  the 
tradesmen's  carts  to  greater  distances  from  the  country 
towns,  and  thus  the  monopoly  and  the  other  exorbitant 
prices  of  the  remote  village  shops  were  done  away  with. 
Elementary  schools,  which  at  the  beginning  of  the  reign  were 
in  most  parishes  the  exception,  became  in  the  early  seventies 
the  invariable  rule.  In  medical  and  hygienic  science  it  was 
the  same.  In  all  important  towns  hospitals  were  built  or 
enlarged,  at  which  the  poor  patient  received  a  careful  treat- 
ment, and  had  as  good  a  chance  of  recovery  as  the  rich 
man  attended  at  his  own  house.  In  the  fifties  anesthetics 
were  discovered  and  came  into  common  use,  whereby  the 
terrors  of  the  surgeon's  knife  were  almost  obliterated. 
Women  and  children,  who  in  the  factories  and  mines 
of  the  midland  and  northern  counties,  had  been  kept  at 
work  underground,  or  in  the  unwholesome  atmosphere  of  a 
mill  for  long  weary  hours,  robbed  of  their  health,  of  the 
buoyancy  of  youth,  of  all  that  makes  young  life  precious, 
were  henceforth  rescued  from  this  fate  by  the  Factory  Acts, 
passed,  in  the  forties,  mainly  by  the  persistent  efforts  of 
Lord  Shaftesbury. 

In  the  way  in  which  the  labouring  class  is  housed  in 
the  towns,  and  too  often  in  the  country,  where  there  is  less 
excuse  for  it,  there  has  unfortunately  been  a  less  marked 
change  for  the  better — less  than  can  be  called  an  approach 
to  the  comfort  or  even  to  the  decency  of  the  dwellings  of  the 
well-to-do.  But  even  thus  there  has  been  an  enormous 
advance  in  the  essentials  to  health.  The  great  mortality 
from  Asiatic  cholera  early  in  the  thirties,  and  again  in  1848 
and  1849,  following  upon  outbreaks  of  typhus  and  other 
fevers,  turned  general  attention  to  sanitary  science.  Great 
sewage  works  wTere  executed  to  drain  dirty  London  and  take 
the  refuse  out  to  sea.  The  Thames,  which  had  hitherto  been 
the  common  receptacle  for  it,  and  the  means  of  carrying 
disease  over  the  city,  was  purified.  Good  uncontaminated 
water    was    supplied     to     every    street     and    every    slum. 

W   2 


164  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

Throughout  the  country  the  same  spirit  prevailed,  and  the 
same  cleansing  processes  were  carried  out.  In  the  thirties 
an  average  Board  of  Guardians  would  have  laughed  at  a 
suggestion  that  it  was  their  business  to  take  notice  of  an 
open  house-drain  or  a  bad  smell.  In  the  seventies  Disraeli 
did  but  put  into  words  the  feeling  of  the  country  when  he 
suggested  for  the  motto  of  his  Government,  '  Sanitas 
Sanitatum,  omnia  Sanitas.' 

Another  benefit  which  the  labourer  was  beginning  to  enjoy 
was  the  increasing  provision  of  allotments,  the  cultivation  of 
which,  on  spare  days  or  long  evenings,  brought  him  not  only 
profit,  but,  what  was  even  more  important,  the  healthy 
stimulus  of  feeling  that  he  was  working  on  his  own  behoof, 
and  they  may  be  a  stepping-stone  to  what  would  be  a  reversal 
of  the  process  that  went  on  during  the  first  half  of  the  reign, 
a  gradual  breaking  up  of  large  farms  into  small  ones. 

Thus,  by  the  end  of  the  first  decade  of  the  Queen's  reign 
the  prospect  had  greatly  brightened.  The  chaos  of  seething 
destitution,  misery,  and  corruption,  with  which  it  had  opened, 
had  been  dealt  with  by  strong  and  wise  administrators  on 
broad  lines  and  in  drastic  fashion.  The  idle  able-bodied 
pauper  was  at  work  as  an  independent  labourer.  The  bonds 
which  bound  him  to  the  soil,  to  the  relieving  officer,  and  to 
the  Guardians  were  slowly  relaxing.  He  was  already  freer, 
more  industrious,  more  self-respecting.  As  yet,  indeed,  the 
evil  lessons  which  he  had  learnt  of  the  old  Poor  Law  still 
clogged  and  held  him  down.  And  his  weekly  wage,  in  spite 
of  the  increased  value  which  free  trade  had  given  to  it,  was 
still  scanty  and  insufficient.  It  was  still  a  hard  matter  for 
him  to  make  a  living.  But  employment,  which  had  been  so 
precarious,  was  now  comparatively  certain  and  constant. 
The  so-called  surplus  labour  had  been  absorbed  or  had  gone 
elsewhere.  Personal  and  individual  effort  to  help  the  poor, 
which  had  been  almost  swamped  and  made  barren  of  result 
by  bad  laws  and  the  overwhelming  mass  of  destitution  to  be 
dealt  with,  was  now  taking  new  life,  and  working  in  many  ways. 


THE   ENGLISH   COUNTKY  LABOURER  AND   THE   POOR  LAW    165 

The  Commissioners,  as  we  have  seen,  in  laying  down  the 
principle  that  a  man  should  be  responsible  for  his  own 
support,  had  limited  its  application  to  such  time  of  his  life 
as  he  should  be  able-bodied.  More  than  that  was  impossible 
at  the  time  ;  but  the  freedom  it  conferred  was  partial  and 
precarious.  When  he  was  sick,  and  when  he  was  old,  he  was 
brought  again  into  bondage  to  the  settlement  laws  and  to  the 
varying  moods  of  relieving  officers  and  of  Guardians.  In 
1834  it  had  been  the  economist  and  the  legislator  who  had 
forced  a  limited  emancipation  on  the  unwilling  pauper.  In 
the  fifties  and  sixties  it  was  the  labourer  himself  who  extended 
the  limit — who,  unaided,  and  out  of  his  scanty  earnings, 
found  means  to  save  wherewithal  to  found  and  support  those 
great  and  beneficent  benefit  clubs,  many  of  which  now  count 
their  members  by  hundreds  of  thousands,  and,  stretching 
their  branches  to  the  furthest  limits  of  the  Empire,  remain  a 
splendid  monument  of  the  self-denial,  the  thrift,  and  the 
persevering  energy  of  the  generation  of  labouring  men  who 
established  them. 

This  spontaneous  movement  was  encouraged  and  assisted 
by  the  action  taken  in  some  of  the  best  administered  Unions 
to  reduce,  and  in  one  or  two  instances  to  abolish  outdoor 
relief,  thus  removing  altogether  the  inducement  to  say,  '  Let 
us  eat,  drink,  spend,  and  be  idle,  for  in  sickness  and  old  age 
the  parish  will  keep  us.'  The  Union  of  Atcham,  in  Shropshire, 
under  the  able  and  assiduous  guidance  of  its  chairman, 
Sir  Baldwyn  Leighton,  took  the  lead  in  improved  administra- 
tion. This  Union  was  formed  in  November,  1836.  There 
were  then  1,395  persons  receiving  relief,  being  7*81  per  cent., 
or  one  in  12f  of  the  population.  In  sixteen  months,  by 
March,  1838,  the  number  had  been  reduced  to  651.  In 
March,  1856,  the  number  was  329,  being  1*72  per  cent.,  or 
1  in  58  of  the  population.  In  1871,  when  Sir  Baldwyn  died, 
the  number  was  275,  or  1*5  of  the  population. 

Later  on,  and  in  more  prosperous  times,  Bradfield,  in 
Berkshire,  under  Mr.  Bland  Garland's  chairmanship,  ceased 


166  OLD-AGE  PENSIONS 

to  give  outdoor  relief  to  new  cases  altogether.  Owing  to  his 
care  to  provide  privately  for  the  few  cases  in  which  a  difficulty 
might  otherwise  have  occurred,  the  change  was  effected  without 
causing  hardship  to  anyone.  That  no  hardship  occurred 
from  it  as  years  went  on  was  sufficiently  proved  by  the  fact 
that  the  admissions  to  the  Union  house,  so  far  from  increasing, 
diminished.  In  twenty-five  years,  from  1871  to  1896,  the  out- 
door paupers  had  fallen  from  999  to  35,  and  the  indoor  paupers 
from  259  to  105.  The  saving  to  the  ratepayers  of  the  Union 
in  that  time  had  been  £150,000.  Let  us  allow  our  imagina- 
tions to  linger  for  a  moment  over  the  fact  of  those  900 
recipients  of  out-relief  converted  into  self-supporting,  self- 
respecting  men  and  women ;  and  let  us  henceforward  think 
once,  twice,  and  thrice  before  we  bring  an  accusation  of 
hardness  against  Guardians  who  are  sparing  of  out-relief. 

I  will  now  leave  the  Poor  Law  and  the  pauper  for  a  while, 
and  go  back  to  cast  a  glance  at  one  or  two  of  the  leading 
writers  and  teachers  of  the  time  who  have  exercised  most 
influence  on  the  treatment  of  the  poor.  First  in  date  comes 
Thomas  Carlyle,  in  the  thirties  and  forties,  a  prophet  of  gloom 
in  a  gloomy  time.  Like  Voltaire,  a  century  earlier,  he  may 
be  called  a  moral  scavenger  ;  for  it  was  his  mission  to 
denounce,  in  language  too  strong  and  too  clear  to  be  ignored, 
wrong,  oppression,  shams,  falsehoods,  and  hypocrisies,  and 
remorselessly  to  tear  aside  the  veils  that  prevented  facts  from 
being  seen  in  their  naked  truth  and  significance.  Take,  for 
instance,  what  he  says  of  Chartism.  Chartists  were  in  the 
eyes  of  most  men  simply  law-breakers,  disturbers  of  the 
peace,  threatening  and  endangering  life  and  property,  all  for 
some  imaginary  wrong — that,  and  nothing  more — men  to  be 
dealt  with  by  police,  by  soldiers,  if  necessary,  and  crushed 
remorselessly  out  of  sight  and  mind.  This  is  what  Carlyle 
says  of  it : — 

'  Chartism  means  the  bitter  discontent  grown  tierce  and 
mad,  the  wrong  condition,  therefore,  or  the  wrong  disposition 
of  the  working  classes   of  England.     It  is  a  new  name  for  a 


THE  ENGLISH  COUNTRY  LABOURER  AND   THE   POOR  LAW    167 

thing  which  has  had  many  names,  which  will  yet  have  many 
....  What  means  this  bitter  discontent  of  the  working 
classes  ?  Whence  comes  it  ?  Whither  goes  it  ?  Above  all, 
at  what  price,  on  what  terms,  will  it  probably  consent  to 
depart  from  us  and  die  into  rest  ?  These  are  questions.  To 
say  that  it  is  mad,  incendiary,  nefarious,  is  no  answer.  .  .  . 
What  will  execration  ;  nay,  at  bottom,  what  will  condemnation 
and  banishment  to  Botany  Bay  do  for  it  ?  Glasgow  Thuggery, 
Chartish  torch  meetings,  Birmingham  riots,  Swing  conflagra- 
tions are  so  many  symptoms  on  the  surface  ;  you  abolish  the 
symptoms  to  no  purpose  if  the  disease  is  left  untouched.  .  .  . 
Delirious  Chartism  will  not  have  raged  entirely  to  no  purpose, 
as  indeed  no  earthly  thing  does  so,  if  it  have  forced  all  thinking 
men  of  the  community  to  think  of  this  vital  matter,  too  apt  to 
be  overlooked  otherwise.  Is  the  condition  of  the  English 
working  people  wrong — so  wrong  that  rational  working  men 
cannot,  will  not,  and  even  should  not,  rest  quiet  under  it  ?  ' 

Men  of  the  present  generation  do  not  read  Carlyle,  or  if 
they  do,  they  say  that  no  definite  movement  for  the  benefit 
of  the  poor  owes  its  origin  to  him ;  and  they  ask  wherein  lay 
his  merit.  I  think  what  I  have  just  read  is  enough  to  prove 
his  sympathy  with  the  poor.  And  if  he  did  not  construct 
himself,  he  pointed  the  way,  and  inspired  others.  Certainly 
he  had  a  profound  influence  on  the  best  of  the  young  genera- 
tion of  his  time.  Take,  for  instance,  three  men — Charles 
Kingsley,  John  Jacob  (the  Indian  frontier  general),  and 
Thomas  Huxley.  It  would  be  hard  to  find  three  men  whose 
characters  and  whose  paths  through  life  were  more  diverse 
one  from  another.  But  they  had  these  three  points  in 
common — they  had  all  deep  practical  sympathy  with  the  poor 
and  down-trodden ;  they  all  did  a  great  work  in  their 
generation  ;  and  they  all  ascribed  much  of  the  tenor  of  their 
lives  to  the  influence  of  Carlyle. 

Of  Charles  Kingsley,  of  his  personality,  of  his  work  for 
the  poor,  I  need  hardly  speak  in  this  county,  in  which  he 
lived  and  died.     Few  books  have  ever  stirred  the  hearts  of 


168  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

Englishmen  to  pity  for  suffering,  and  to  indignation  at  wrong, 
as  did  his  books  '  Alton  Locke  '  and  '  Yeast ' — the  first 
describing  the  life  of  the  town  artisan,  the  second, 
incidentally,  that  of  the  country  labourer.  They  were  the 
outcome  of  a  knowledge  of  the  poor  gained  in  intimate  and 
sympathetic  intercourse  with  them  from  his  childhood 
upwards,  and  reproduced  by  his  genius  in  dramatic  form. 

Sympathy,  profound  sympathy,  was  the  keynote  of  his 
character.  I  remember,  as  though  it  were  yesterday,  though 
a  full  half-century  has  passed  since,  his  pacing  restlessly  up 
and  down  the  room,  as  his  wont  was  when  moved,  telling  me 
the  story  of  the  terrible  Bristol  riots  of  1831.  He  was  then 
a  boy  of  twelve  years  old  at  school  at  Bristol,  and  had 
managed  to  slip  away  unseen  to  the  streets,  attracted  by  the 
noise,  the  excitement,  and  the  peril.  A  raging  mob  of  brutal, 
reckless,  savage  wretches  had  poured  into  the  streets,  and  was 
destroying,  plundering,  and  burning,  while  the  soldiers, 
sitting  patient  on  their  horses,  were  pelted  with  stones  and 
missiles,  without — through  some  one's  fault— being  allowed 
to  charge.  The  public-houses  and  spirit-shops  were  ran- 
sacked, casks  of  spirits  were  broken  open  in  the  streets,  and 
as  the  raw  spirit  ran  in  a  stream  down  the  gutter  the 
wretched  men  and  women  threw  themselves  prostrate  on  the 
ground  to  drink  it  as  it  flowed.  Then  (he  told  me)  the  fire 
from  a  burning  house  caught  it,  and  a  burst  of  flame  swept 
down  the  gutter,  leaving  by  its  side  after  it  had  passed  a 
row  of  blackened  corpses.  When  he  paused,  I  ventured  to 
ask,  '  Whose  fault  was  it  that  such  things  could  happen  ? ' 
'  Mine,'  he  answered,  '  and  yours.'  That  '  mine  and 
yours,'  though  fifty  years  have  passed  since  they  were 
uttered,  ring  in  my  ears  yet.  '  Am  I  my  brother's  keeper  ?  ' 
That  was  the  question  which  he  pressed  upon  every  man  to 
ask  of  himself  and  his  conscience.  I,  the  owner  of  the  land, 
of  the  habitations  of  a  parish,  am  I  the  keeper  of  that 
labourer  and  his  family,  housed  in  a  dwelling  too  damp  for 
health,  too  cramped  for  decency  ?     I,  the   tradesman,  am  I 


THE   ENGLISH  COUNTRY  LABOURER  AND  THE  POOR  LAW    169 

the  keeper  of  my  workman,  sowing  the  seeds  of  consumption 
in  my  Stirling  workshop  ?  I,  the  young  man,  who  have  made 
my  way  to  prosperity  in  the  world,  am  I  the  keeper  of  my 
father  in  his  poverty  and  old  age  ?  The  beneficent  action  of 
the  new  Poor  Law  and  the  general  improvement  had  cleared 
the  way  for  this  question  of  questions  to  be  pressed  home. 
Less  than  ever  now  did  it  admit  of  the  answer,  '  I  pay  rates 
on  all  that  I  possess  ;  there  is  the  relieving  officer  and  the 
workhouse  ;  what  more  am  I  bound  to  do  ?  '  It  was  confi- 
dence in  a  right  answer  being  given  to  the  question,  '  Am  I 
my  brother's  keeper  ?  '  that  enabled  the  Bradfield  Guardians 
to  carry  out  their  wise  and  beneficent  plan  of  checking  out- 
door relief,  and,  as  we  have  Been,  they  were  abundantly 
justified  by  the  result. 

I  come  now  to  the  last  decade  of  the  Queen's  reign.  Never 
has  the  country,  taken  as  a  whole,  been  so  rich,  so  prosperous, 
employment  so  abundant,  wages  so  high,  food,  clothing,  neces- 
saries, and  even  luxuries  so  cheap.  In  the  previous  two  or 
three  decades,  as  we  have  seen,  under  far  harder  conditions, 
the  labourer  had  done  much  by  means  of  benefit  clubs  to 
insure  himself  against  sickness.  Now,  surely,  there  was  a 
golden  opportunity  to  shake  off  the  last  remaining  link  of 
bondage  to  the  Poor  Law,  and  by  the  labour  of  his  own  hands, 
and  by  his  own  unaided  thrift,  to  provide  for  his  old  age.  To 
his  benefit  club,  if  he  joined  at  twenty  or  twenty-one,  he  had 
to  pay  perhaps  3d.  or  4d.  a  week.  An  addition  of  Id.  a  week 
would  be  a  contribution  sufficient  to  provide  the  means  for 
converting  his  claim  to  sick  pay  into  a  pension  of  5s.  a  week 
at  sixty-five.  The  contribution  of  older  members  would,  of 
course,  have  to  be  higher  in  proportion  to  their  age ;  but, 
except  in  the  case  of  men  past  middle  life,  it  would,  in  general, 
be  a  mere  fraction  of  the  increase  of  wages  which  had  accrued 
to  them  in  the  last  two  or  three  decades  since  most  of  the 
clubs  sprang  into  new  life.  As  regards  the  elderly  men — those 
approaching  too  nearly  to  sixty- five — their  own  unassisted 
efforts  would  not,  of  course,  avail.     But  here  there  would  be 


170  OLD-AGE  PENSIONS 

scope  for  the  substantial  help  of  honorary  members— why, 
unless  for  some  such  purpose  as  this,  do  honorary  members 
exist  ? — and  the  sum  required  would  be  small  indeed  in  pro- 
portion to  the  benefits  it  might  secure. 

But,  alas  !  it  was  not  to  be,  not  yet,  at  least.  In  some 
instances,  notably,  in  some  newly-founded  branches  of  the 
Foresters  and  in  the  Hearts  of  Oak,  a  pension  fund  was 
established  to  which  contribution  was  in  some  cases  obligatory, 
in  others  optional.  In  our  own  Hampshire  Club  ample 
opportunities  are  offered,  though  seldom  taken  advantage  of, 
of  contributing  for  an  Old- Age  Pension.  But  there  has  been 
no  general  movement  in  this  direction  such  as  the  time  and 
the  opportunity  warranted.  Shortened  hours  of  work,  the 
Saturday  half-holiday,  have  not  proved,  as  had  been  hoped, 
an  unmixed  boon.  In  the  Potteries,  I  am  told,  where  a  good 
workman  can  earn  more  than  £3  a  week,  two  or  three  days  of 
the  week  are  by  many  habitually  spent  in  idleness  or  worse  ; 
and,  if  sickness  befall,  there  is  absolute  destitution  at  once. 

That,  of  course,  is  an  extreme  case.  But  there  can  be  no 
doubt,  I  fear,  that  amongst  certain  classes  of  artisans  and 
labourers  a  day's  work  is  not  only  not  what  it  used  to  be,  but 
occasionally — and  sometimes  under  stress  of  compulsion  from 
his  fellows — comes  so  far  short  of  what  it  ought  to  be  as  to 
render  unproductive  the  capital  of  the  employer,  and  thus  to 
point  the  way  ominously  towards  an  economical  condition 
comparable  to  that  which  I  have  described  as  existing  under 
the  old  Poor  Law.  And  even  from  the  point  of  view  of  the 
individual  worker  there  can  be  too  much  leisure,  as  well  as 
too  much  work.  '  The  majority  of  men  ' — I  am  quoting  now 
from  a  paper  in  the  Charity  Organisation  Society  Review  of 
last  month — '  are  only  really  happy  when  at  work.  A  man 
who  can  really  enjoy  leisure  does  so  by  filling  it  with  equally 
strenuous  work  of  another  kind,  and  if  he  does  not  know  how 
to  do  that,  it  is  no  kindness  to  force  him  to  be  idle  when  he 
wishes  to  work.' 

But  if  a  day's  work  is  no  longer  in  quality  or  quantity 


THE  ENGLISH  COUNTRY  LABOURER  AND  THE   POOR  LAW    17 1 

what  it  has  been,  there  are  others  to  blame  besides  the 
labourer.  Considering  the  wealth  of  the  country,  he  was  not, 
is  not,  housed  as  he  should  be.  In  towns  it  is  hard  to  fix  the 
responsibility  on  individuals  ;  but  in  the  country  the  owner 
of  many  acres  and  ample  means  practically  holds  the  health, 
and  hence  the  welfare,  of  his  cottage  tenants  in  the  hollow  of 
his  hand.  He,  of  all  men,  is  unmistakably,  demonstrably,  and 
literally  his  brother's  keeper,  and  heavy  indeed  is  his  responsi- 
bility and  culpability  if  he  fails  to  recognise  it. 

Other  evil  influences  were  at  work.  The  Poor  Law 
Commissioners  of  1834  had  been  men  of  marked  individuality, 
but  who  worked  upon  common  principles  towards  a  common 
end,  without  any  connection  with  Parliament  or  party. 
Assailed  in  the  course  of  their  work  from  all  sides  by  abuse, 
threats,  and  accusations  of  cruelty,  they  never  faltered  or 
flinched,  and  went  to  their  graves  one  by  one  undistinguished 
and  unrewarded,  save  by  the  consciousness  of  a  great  work 
accomplished.  Their  duties  were  taken  up  in  1847  by  the 
Poor  Law  Board,  which  afterwards,  with  extended  functions, 
became  the  Local  Government  Board,  represented  in  Parlia- 
ment by  a  Minister.  Thus  the  administration  of  the  Poor 
Law  became  gradually  and  inevitably  drawn  within  the 
baneful  influence  of  Parliamentary  and  party  politics.  In 
1894  a  Local  Government  Act  was  passed — as  regards  its 
Poor-law  clauses  not  even  ostensibly  in  the  interests  of  the 
poor,  and  without  any  consideration  or  solicitude  about  the 
effect  it  would  be  likely  to  have  on  their  treatment  or 
welfare — which  transferred  the  administration  of  the  Poor 
Law,  to  a  limited  extent  in  the  country  Unions,  and  to  a  larger 
extent  in  the  towns,  to  another  class,  many  of  whom  were 
actually  or  potentially  interested  in  increasing  outdoor 
relief. 

In  London  the  effect  was  soon  apparent.  In  1890  the  cost 
of  out-relief  in  the  four  Unions  of  St.  Olave's,  St.  Saviour's, 
Poplar,  and  Whitechapel,  was  £26,505.  In  1900,  after  ten 
years,  remember,  of  unexampled  prosperity,  it  was  £49,104, 


172  OLD-AGE  PENSIONS 

the  cost  per  head  of  population  having  risen  from  3s.  3d.  to 
6s.  3frf.  And  as  a  proof,  if  proof  were  still  needed,  that 
lavish  outdoor  relief  does  not  diminish  or  take  the  place  of 
indoor  relief,  the  indoor  relief  for  the  same  Unions  during 
the  same  period  went  up  from  £121,854  to  £179,309 — from 
13s.  S^d.  per  head  of  population  to  £1.  Os.  9d.  I  do  not  lay 
stress  upon  the  waste  of  money.  Large  as  that  is,  it  is  un- 
important in  comparison  with  the  demoralisation,  the  idle- 
ness, and  the  depravity  which  such  an  increase  of  pauperism, 
at  a  time  of  prosperity,  assuredly  denotes.  In  the  country 
Unions  generally  there  was  a  change,  though  less  marked, 
for  the  worse.  The  ratio  of  pauperism  to  the  population 
stopped  in  the  diminishing  course  which  it  had  hitherto 
steadily  followed,  and  rose  from  25#6  per  thousand  in  1892  to 
26*2  in  1898,  at  a  time  when  all  outward  circumstances  were 
unprecedentedly  favourable  to  an  accelerated  decrease. 

,  In  what  spirit  were  these  signs  of  the  times  met  by  the 
Local  Government  Board  ?  Time  does  not  admit  of  my 
examining  in  detail  the  startling  and  retrogressive  minute  of 
last  August.  It  is  enough  to  say  that  it  gave  encouragement 
to  the  extended  application  of  outdoor  relief,  thereby  inflicting 
a  rebuff  on,  and  adding  to  the  difficulties  of  the  administra- 
tion of  Unions  which,  like  Bradfield,  had  for  years  been  a 
bright  example  of  a  successful  effort  to  raise  the  labourer  to 
a  position  of  independence  and  self-respect.  In  its  sugges- 
tions, which,  if  carried  out  to  their  logical  extent,  would  have 
had  the  effect  of  converting  the  workhouses  into  comfortable, 
if  not  luxurious,  almshouses,  it  contravened  the  fundamental 
principle  of  the  Poor  Law,  that  the  pauper  must  not  be  put 
in  a  position  superior  to  that  of  the  self-supporting  and 
independent  labourer. 

And  in  an  evil  hour  the  voice  of  the  tempter  was  heard 
through  the  land,  '  Take  your  ease,  eat,  drink,  and  have  no 
thought  for  the  morrow,  for  the  State  shall  give  you  a  pension 
in  old  age.'  It  was  the  old  story  in  another  shape,  a  sugges- 
tion to  support  the  idle  at  the  expense  of  the  industrious  and 


THE   ENGLISH   COUNTRY    LABOURER   AND   THE    POOR   LAW    173 

thrifty  ;  it  was  an  invitation  to  the  working  man  to  sell  the 
birthright  of  his  independence,  not  even  for  a  mess  of 
pottage,  but  for  a  cup  of  poison.  The  President  of  the  Local 
Government  Board  wavered  and  temporised.  But,  to  their 
honour  be  it  said,  the  most  eminent  among  leaders  of  the 
Friendly  Societies  have  steadily  set  their  faces  against 
State  pensions  and  State  paupers,  perceiving,  with  true 
instinct,  whither  they  tended ;  knowing  that  free  men  and 
women  are  made  paupers,  less  by  hard  times  than  by  bad 
laws  and  lax  administration. 

New  Zealand  is  a  country  beyond  any  other  in  the  world, 
perhaps,  fertile,  healthy,  and  prosperous,  and  with  a  popula- 
tion vigorous  and  comparatively  youthful,  where  one  would 
have  thought  there  could  be  no  poverty.  Yet  the  outdoor 
relief  in  one  year  (1895-96)  amounted  to  no  less  than 
£72,066.  There  is  a  report  by  Dr.  McGregor,  Inspector- 
General  of  Charitable  Institutions,  which  contains  instances 
of  misapplied  relief  and  consequent  demoralisation  and 
depravity  hardly  to  be  surpassed  even  in  the  report  of  the 
Poor  Law  Commissioners  of  1834.  Dr.  McGregor's  conclu- 
sions tally  so  well  with  our  own  experience  that  I  venture  to 
quote  a  few  sentences  : — 

'  So  long  as  the  central  Government  was  willing  to  find 
the  money,  men,  women,  and  children  were  taught  to  dis- 
believe the  Scripture,  "  He  that  will  not  work,  neither  shall  he 
eat,"  and  we  mortals  have  the  capacity  to  consume  the  solar 
system  on  such  terms.  ...  I  believe  the  system  of  outdoor 
relief,  as  at  present  conducted,  to  be  contrary  to  first  prin- 
ciples in  two  ways — it  violates  the  first  law  of  Nature,  that  he 
who  will  not  or  cannot  work,  neither  shall  he  eat,  which  is 
Nature's  provision  for  mere  being  in  existence ;  and  it  does 
not  obey  the  second  law  of  human  society,  or  on  which  human 
society  is  based,  which  says,  "  Love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself," 
which  is  Nature's  provision  for  well-being  or  happiness. 
Society  attempts  to  cheat  both  God  and  the  devil  by  giving 
money  out  of  the  taxes,  and  soothes  its  conscience  by  think- 


174  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

ing  it  is  providing  for  the  poor  ;  whereas  in  sober  fact  it  is 
merely  drugging  itself  and  poisoning  them.  Once  for  all,  it 
is  not  possible  to  leave  the  care  of  our  poor  to  State  officials 
distributing  taxes.  The  charity  that  is  divorced  from  human 
sympathy  and  fellowship  both  curses  him  that  gives  and  him 
that  takes.' 

.The  last  ten  years  have  been,  beyond  example,  fat  years. 
There  are  not  wanting  indications  that  the  next  ten  may  be 
lean  ones.  At  any  rate,  there  will  be  little  to  spare  from  the 
public  purse  to  spend  on  doles  and  on  the  support  of  institu- 
tions which  belong  rightly  (as  I  venture  to  think)  to  private 
effort.  If  the  rebound  be  not  too  great,  it  may  not  be 
altogether  a  misfortune.  It  may  bring  back  a  healthier 
and  a  more  vigorous  spirit  to  the  service  of  the  poor.  Not 
only  for  those  who  are  called  wealthy,  nor  only  for  the  nation 
as  a  whole,  but  even  for  the  individual  working  man  with  his 
comparatively  small  means,  is  the  saying  true,  '  How  hardly 
shall  they  that  have  riches  enter  into  the  Kingdom.' 

I  come  now  to  the  hardest  part  of  my  task  ;  for  no 
description  of  the  changes  in  the  condition  of  the  poor  during 
the  last  reign  would  be  a  true  one  which  did  not  take  account 
of  the  Queen's  personality,  of  the  constant,  powerful,  and  far- 
reaching  influence  which  it  exercised  in  promoting  their 
welfare.  When  the  Queen  came  to  the  throne,  the  monarchy 
was  not  in  high  repute.  There  were  those  who  spoke  of  it 
lightly,  as  a  convenient  fiction,  even  as  an  institution  whose 
days  might  be  numbered.  The  stone  which  these  builders 
were  ready  to  reject  became  the  headstone  of  the  corner.  At 
the  very  first  hour  of  her  reign,  when,  in  the  dawn  of  a  June 
morning,  her  accession  to  the  throne  was  announced  to  her, 
those  who  were  present  could  not  but  note  in  her  wrapt  and 
anxious  countenance  and  overflowing  eyes,  and  in  the  few 
and  moving  words  that  she  spoke,  a  deep  and  absorbing  con- 
viction that,  girl  as  she  was,  she  was  in  very  truth,  above  all 
things  else,  her  people's,  her  brother's  keeper.  That  con- 
viction was  intertwined  in  the  course  of  her  long  and 
chequered  life  to  the  end,  like  a  thread  of  gold. 


THE   ENGLISH   COUNTRY   LABOURER  AND   THE   POOR   LAW    175 

Knowing  bow  much  she  had  to  learn  in  order  to  fulfil  the 
high  and  manifold  duties  of  her  station,  she  was  a  patient 
and  docile  pupil,  in  turn,  of  Lord  Melbourne,  of  Sir  Eobert 
Peel,  and  of  her  consort  Prince  Albert ;  and,  gathering  around 
her  all  that  was  best  and  wisest,  grew  in  wisdom  from  year 
to  year ;  while  among  her  own  household  and  dependents  her 
ever-ready  help  and  sympathy  went  out  to  the  poor  and  suf- 
fering in  a  thousand  simple  womanly  ways.  In  the  years  of 
stress,  1845  to  1848,  when  work  was  scarce  and  ill-paid,  food 
dear,  and  the  poor  more  than  usually  poor,  when  in  every 
country  dark  clouds  of  revolution  were  gathering,  and  the 
sovereigns  of  Europe  were  fortifying  their  capitals  and 
mustering  their  soldiers  to  meet  the  coming  storm,  our  Queen 
was  asking  her  Minister,  Sir  Eobert  Peel,  if  the  Palace 
banquets  might  not  be  suspended,  or  at  least  cut  down  to  the 
simplest  and  plainest  fare,  and  the  money  thus  saved  applied 
to  the  relief  of  the  poor.  It  was  by  the  spirit  that  inspired 
that  thought,  and  not  by  bayonets,  that  her  crown  was 
fortified  when  the  day  of  trial  came. 

It  was  at  Windsor,  I  believe,  that  the  first  model  cottages 
were  built.  It  was  from  the  Victoria  Nursing  Institution  in 
Harley  Street,  of  which  the  Queen  was  Patroness  and  Head, 
that  Florence  Nightingale  went  to  tend  the  wounded  soldiers 
at  Scutari,  by  which  an  impulse  was  given  to  the  training  and 
employment  of  nurses,  which  has  done  more,  perhaps,  than 
any  one  thing  to  alleviate  the  pains  of  sick  and  suffering 
humanity.  There  is  scarce  a  hospital  or  workhouse  infirmary 
in  the  land  where  the  poor  man  does  not  get  more  skilful 
nursing  than  sixty  years  ago  was  obtained  by  the  wealthiest. 
Years  afterwards,  when  at  her  Jubilee,  in  1887,  the  women  of 
England  presented  her  with  a  purse  of  money  as  a  memorial, 
her  first  thought  again  was  for  the  sick  poor ;  and  it  was 
applied  by  her  to  the  Institution  of  the  Victoria  Nurses,  by 
whom  the  same  skill  and  care  is  brought  to  the  bedside  of  the 
humblest  cottager.  When  in  1861  the  blow  fell  that  made 
the  crown  thenceforth  a  '  lonely  splendour,'  when  for  weeks 
and  months  we  dreaded  lest  her  reign — already  a  great  one — 


176  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

might  then  close  in  gloom,  it  was  in  the  same  inspiring  sense 
of  a  task  to  be  accomplished  by  which  she  roused  herself  and 
arose — now  with  no  arm,  no  staff  on  which  to  lean — and 
worked  for  her  people  and  her  poor,  diligent  and  faithful  to 
the  very  end. 

Nor  can  we  be  too  thankful  for  the  example  of  the  high 
standard  of  life,  the  unselfishness,  the  simple  purity  of  her 
Court,  with  its  vast  influence  for  good  upon  all  classes  of 
Englishmen  ;  but  to  the  poor  the  benefit  was  perhaps  the 
greatest,  for  to  them  vice  brings  not  only  misery — that  it 
brings  to  all— but  ruin  and  destitution  as  well.  In  the  great 
and  good  Queen's  life  we  have  seen  exemplified  the  saying  of 
the  old  Greek  historian,  '  Of  all  the  qualities  of  mind  that 
go  to  make  a  noble  character,  the  first  and  the  chief  is 
simplicity.' 

J.  M. 


177 


XV 

PENSIONS    AND    VOLUNTARY    EFFORT:    A 
SUGGESTION  AND  AN  EXPERIMENT 


'We  have  in  our  Poor  Law  300  years'  experience  to  prove  that  as  soon  as 
he  community  is  taxed  to  provide  what  the  individual  ought  to  do  as  a 
Christian  duty,  the  individual  pays  his  tax  and  washes  his  hands  and  his 
conscience  henceforth  of  the  whole  concern,  and  settles  down  to  his  selfishness 
in  total  and  sublime  forgetfulness  of  love  and  life  and  neighbourly  duty.' 

Edward  Thking,  Life,  Vol.  II.  p.  222. 


Pensions  in  old  age  have  hitherto  not  been  a  popular  object 
for  saving  with  the  English  working  class.  To  a  young  man, 
at  the  time  of  life  when  he  is  best  able  to  save,  the  prospect 
of  ever  reaching  old  age  seems  too  remote  for  consideration. 
The  necessity  for  keeping  up  frequent  and  regular  though 
small  payments  is  irksome,  especially  in  prospect  of  an 
eventuality  which  may  after  all  never  occur,  so  that  the 
benefit  may  be  wholly  lost.  Most  persons  prefer  to  acquire 
something  tangible :  money  in  the  savings  bank,  a  house,  a 
bit  of  land,  something  which  can  be  seen  or  handled  and 
transmitted  to  children.  Then,  too,  there  is  the  special 
initial  difficulty  of  grafting  a  pension  scheme  on  an  established 
Friendly  Society,  that  the  older  members  are  already  too  near 
the  pension  age  to  be  able  to  pay  the  heavy  contributions 
necessary  in  their  case  to  earn  it.  Lastly,  the  prospect  held 
out  for  five  or  six  years  past  by  Members  of  Parliament  and 
others  of  getting  a  pension  from  the  State  in  part  or  altogether 
unearned,  has  acted  as  a  serious  deterrent  to  thrift  in  general, 
but  more  especially  to  thrift  in  this  particular  form. 


178  OLD-AGE  PENSIONS 

Nevertheless,  in  spite  of  all  these  drawbacks  and  diffi- 
culties, provision  for  old  age  by  pensions  has  been  slowly 
making  its  way  here  and  there.  There  are  no  means  of 
ascertaining  to  what  extent  this  has  been  the  case ;  but  several 
notable  instances  of  successful  pension  schemes  are  recorded. 
The  Dunmow  Friendly  Society,  founded  as  long  ago  as  1832, 
has  now  a  capital  of  £38,500  and  just  a  thousand  members, 
most  of  them  agricultural  labourers  whose  wages  average  only 
14s.  a  week  taking  the  year  round,  all  of  whom  get  a  pension 
of  from  4s.  to  8s.  a  week  at  sixty-five.  In  the  Sheffield  and 
Hallamshire  District  Branch  of  the  Foresters,  out  of  thirty-six 
lodges  subscription  for  a  pension  is  compulsory  in  fourteen, 
and  optional  in  eight  more  ;  and  though  as  yet  only  263 
members  out  of  a  total  of  3,616  subscribe  for  a  pension, 
yet  the  tendency  in  that  direction  is  so  marked  that  Mr. 
Stead,  the  late  Secretary  to  the  Foresters,  in  his  evidence 
before  the  'Aged  Poor  Commission'  (June  1893),  went  so 
far  as  to  say:  'Very  shortly  the  societies  will  all  agree  not 
to  take  members  unless  they  pay  for  a  superannuation 
allowance.     That  is  our  solution  of  the  question.' 

Many  exaggerated  statements  have  been  made  as  to  the 
number  of  persons  over  sixty-five  dependent  on  the  Poor  Law. 
Mr.  Chamberlain,  in  his  speech  on  the  Old-Age  Pensions  Bill 
on  March  22,  speaks  of  '  certain  facts  of  a  most  startling 
character,'  which 

'  show  that  the  poor  people,  paupers  in  receipt  of  parish  relief,  over 
sixty-five  years  of  age  in  England  and  Wales  amounted  to  29*3  per  cent, 
of  the  population  of  that  day — that  is  to  say,  one  in  three  of  the  whole 
population — and  if  you  deduct  from  that  population  one-third  of  the 
classes  who  from  the  nature  of  the  case,  being  well  to  do,  are  never 
likely  to  need  poor  relief,  you  will  find  that  of  the  remainder  of  the 
population,  which  includes  the  whole  industrial  population  of  the  United 
Kingdom,  three  in  seven,  or  nearly  one  in  two,  are  destined  when  they 
reach  the  age  of  sixty-five  to  be  suppliants  for  parish  relief.' 

This  calculation  is  based  upon  error.  The  statistics  referred 
to  show  that  the  percentage  of  pauperism  of  the  population 


PENSIONS  AND   VOLUNTARY  EFFORT  179 

over  sixty-five  is  (not  29*3,  but)  19*5.  29*3  is  the  percentage 
of  cases  relieved  in  a  year,  which  may  include  the  same 
cases  relieved  several  times,  and  is  no  measure  of  the  rate 
of  pauperism.1 

On  January  1,  1892,  according  to  the  above  return,  there 
were  in  England  and  Wales  1,372,601  persons  over  sixty-five. 
Of  these,  63,352,  or  4*6  per  cent.,  were  in  workhouses. 
205,045,  or  14*9  per  cent.,  were  receiving  out-door  relief, 
making  a  total  of  268,397,  or  19'5  per  cent,  receiving  some 
kind  of  relief  from  the  Poor  Law.  This  enumeration  included 
those  getting  medical  relief  only.  It  was  taken  in  mid-winter, 
when  the  relief  lists  are  much  larger  than  in  summer,  and  is 
therefore  a  high  estimate. 

Inasmuch  as  a  considerable  proportion  of  the  4*6  per  cent, 
who  are  in  workhouses  are  in  the  infirmaries,  partly  or 
entirely  for  the  sake  of  permanent  or  temporary  medical 
treatment,  the  number  of  the  remainder  who  are  there  for 
want  of  means  of  support  is  scarcely  so  large  as  to  warrant 
the  epithet  '  startling,'  and  certainly  does  not  support  the 
hackneyed  assertion  that  there  is  no  refuge  for  the  labourer 
in  old  age  except  the  workhouse.2 

Careless  speakers  and  writers  are  wont  to  assert  that 
the  comparative  reluctance  to  subscribe  for  pensions  is  due 
to  the  rate  of  wages,  especially  as  regards  agricultural 
labourers,  being  too  low  to  admit  of  the  necessary  weekly 
payment.  In  answer  to  this  it  is  enough  to  point  to  the 
vast    amount    of   provision    for    old    age,  direct  or  indirect, 

1  Royal  Commission  Report  on  Aged  Poor,  p.  xii.  section  21. 

-  A  little  way  on  in  his  speech  Mr.  Chamberlain  says  :  '  The  statistics 
show  that  while  the  pauperism  of  persons  between  the  ages  of  sixteen  and 
sixty-five  is,  I  think,  about  12  per  cent.,'  &c.  The  statistics  referred  to  show 
that  the  pauperism  between  sixteen  and  sixty-five  is  not  12,  but  1/2  per  cent. 
Mr.  Chamberlain  apparently  did  not  notice  the  decimal  point,  and  thus  multi- 
plied the  rate  of  pauperism  by  ten  !  Oddly  enough,  the  mistake  made,  not  for, 
but  against  the  point  he  was  endeavouring  to  establish — the  great  excess  of 
old-age  over  middle-age  pauperism.  But  the  habit  of  exaggerating  pauperism, 
once  acquired,  seems  to  be  inveterate,  and  to  be  followed,  whatever  the  conclu- 
sion may  be  to  which  it  may  lead. 

s  2 


180  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

which  is  being  made  in  other  ways  :  to  the  enormous  sum 
of  £218,000,000  which  has  been  invested  in  Friendly  Societies, 
Savings  Banks,  Industrial  and  Provident  Societies,  Building 
and  other  Societies  coming  under  the  special  notice  of  the 
Begistrar  of  Friendly  Societies,1  and  which  form  but  a  small 
portion  of  the  numberless  unregistered  and  unrecorded  ways  in 
which  the  working  class  has  been  accumulating  savings,  all  in 
greater  or  less  degree  constituting  provision  for  old  age. 

In  the  Post  Office  Savings  Bank  a  pension  of  5s.  at  sixty- 
five  can  be  obtained  by  a  payment  of  4d.  a  week  beginning 
at  the  age  of  twenty.  In  the  Friendly  Societies,  owing  to  the 
good  rate  of  interest  they  obtain  for  their  investments,  it 
can  be  had  on  easier  terms.  In  the  Manchester  Unity  the 
payment  is  d^d.  a  week  beginning  at  twenty-one,  in  the 
Foresters  3d.  a  week  beginning  at  twenty.2 

As  for  agricultural  labourers,  some  of  the  most  solvent  and 
flourishing  branches  of  the  Friendly  Societies  are  situated 
in  the  rural  districts  of  the  south  and  east  of  England, 
where  wages  are  lowest  of  all.  Farm  labourers  who,  thirty 
or  forty  years  ago,  by  truly  admirable  self-denial  and  per- 
severance found  means  to  pay  3r?.,  4r/.,  or  5d.  a  week  for  sick 
and  funeral  benefits,  can  have  comparatively  little  difficulty,  now 
that  their  wages  are  in  purchasing  power  nearly  double  what 
they  were  then,  in  providing  the  small  extra  contribution 
required  for  securing  a  pension.  The  amount  of  this  extra 
contribution  depends,  of  course,  on  the  scale  of  benefits 
adopted,  and  the  age  at  which  the  member  enters.  But  to 
take  the  case  of  a  member  entering  at  twenty  and  subscribing 
for  the  ordinary  benefits  of  a  Friendly  Society,  the  extra 
contributions  required  to  secure  a  pension  of  5s.  a  week  at 
sixty-five  does  not  exceed  a  penny  a  week.  This  payment  at 
the  same  time  abolishes  sick-pay  after  sixty-five,  and  does 
away  also  with  all  contributions  from  that  age. 

Another  great  advantage  connected  with  the  adoption  of  a 

1  Mr.  E.  W.  Brabrook.    See  11029,  Royal  Commission  on  Aged  Poor. 
Report  of  Committee  on  Old-Age  Pensions,  p.  141. 


PENSIONS   AND   VOLUNTAEY  EFFORT  181 

pension  in  lieu  of  sick-pay  after  sixty-five  is  that  it  relieves 
the  Friendly  Societies  of  a  serious  difficulty.  For  the  pay- 
ments under  the  head  of  sick-pay  in  old  age  are  specially 
liable  to  laxity  in  administration,  owing  to  the  difficulty  of 
distinguishing  between  sickness  and  the  natural  infirmity  of 
old  age  ;  and  they  are  necessarily  very  uncertain  in  amount, 
so  as  to  defy  accurate  calculation,  and  to  constitute  a  serious 
danger  to  the  stability  of  the  societies. 

The  pension  form  of  provision  for  old  age  is  perhaps  more 
adapted  for  agricultural  labourers,  whose  wages,  though  small, 
are  regular,  than  for  the  more  highly  paid  but  less  constantly 
employed  artisan  of  the  towns.  It  is  comparatively  rare  indeed 
nowadays  for  a  good  farm  labourer  to  be  out  of  employment. 
And  when  he  grows  old  there  is  still  generally  work  for  him, 
if  not  on  a  farm,  in  his  own  or  his  neighbour's  garden  or 
allotment,  so  that  almost  to  the  end  there  is  generally  some- 
thing coming  in  which,  added  to  a  five-shilling  pension, 
will  provide  a  maintenance. 

Far  be  it  from  the  writer  of  this  Paper  to  presume  to  lay 
down  any  rules  or  recommend  any  special  form  of  thrift  or 
course  of  action  to  meet  all  cases.  If  the  will  and  the  spirit 
are  present,  the  form  and  the  method  will  take  care  of  them- 
selves. But,  as  an  instance  of  how  an  Old-Age  Pension 
Scheme  has  been  adopted,  with,  thus  far,  marked  success,  it 
may  be  not  without  interest  to  describe  what  has  been  done 
by  a  lodge  of  the  Foresters'  Society  having  its  headquarters 
at  Walsham-le-Willows,  in  Suffolk. 

The  members  of  this  lodge  are  most  of  them  agricultural 
labourers,  whose  weekly  wage  generally  does  not  exceed  10s.  a 
week,  with  occasional  extra  payment  for  piece-work  in  drain- 
ing, hay-harvest,  &c,  and  £6  or  J67  for  the  harvest.  But, 
though  wages  are  low,  the  district  is  healthy,  the  calls  upon 
the  club  for  sick-pay  have  not  been  excessive ;  the  people 
are,  on  the  whole,  good  managers — invariably  bake  their  own 
bread,  for  instance,  an  enormous  economy — and  are,  as  English 
people  go,  thrifty.     And  what  is  very  important,  the  lodge  is 


182  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

being  very  well  managed.  At  the  beginning  of  1896,  after  an 
existence  of  thirty-two  years,  it  found  itself  with  166  members, 
and  after  all  liabilities,  present  and  future,  were  provided  for, 
with  a  certified  surplus  of  £1,072. 

The  question  then  arose,  What  should  be  done  with  this 
surplus  ?  Should  the  benefits  be  increased  ?  Or  should  the 
contributions  be  diminished  ?  Or  should  the  money  be  taken 
out  and  shared  among  the  members  ? 

A  new  departure  was  suggested.  Could  not  the  surplus 
be  made  the  foundation  for  an  Old-Age  Pension  Fund  ?  It 
would  not,  of  course,  be  enough  of  itself.  The  contributions 
must  be  raised  to  augment  it.     Was  this  practicable  ? 

And  then  came  the  difficulty.  How  about  the  older  mem- 
bers ?  Three  were  over  pension  age  already,  and  would  be 
unable  to  contribute  anything.  Others  were  approaching  it, 
more  or  less  nearly ;  their  contributions  would  not  amount  to 
much,  and  if  all  alike  were  to  have  a  pension  at  a  certain  age, 
an  unfair  and  impossible  burden  would  be  thrown  upon  the 
younger  members.  To  meet  this  difficulty  an  honorary 
member  of  the  society  offered  to  provide  such  a  subsidy  as 
would  suffice,  when  added  to  the  surplus,  to  enable  every 
member,  no  matter  what  his  present  age,  to  receive  a  pension 
of  5s.  at  sixty-five,  without  making  an  excessive  addition  to 
the  contributions,  and  the  addition  being  the  same  for  all 
members,  old  or  young. 

At  this  stage  each  member  was  separately  asked  to  express 
his  opinion  in  favour  of  or  against  the,  as  yet,  undeveloped 
proposal.  Ninety -five  declared  for  it,  and  seventy-one 
against  it. 

The  secretary  thereupon  prepared  an  elaborate  statement 
ol  the  assets  and  liabilities  of  the  lodge,  showing  each 
member's  interest  therein  separately,  and  the  case  with  all  its 
figures  was  submitted  to  Mr.  Thomas  Abbott,  actuary,  of 
Sheffield. 

His  report  is  too  long  to  quote  in  detail,  but  briefly  the 
conclusion  he  arrived  at  was  that,  by  the  help  of  the  surplus, 


PENSIONS   AND   VOLUNTARY   EFFORT  183 

increased  by  a  subsidy  of  €1,200  from  the  honorary  member, 
a  pension  of  5s.  a  week  at  the  age  of  sixty-five,  and  also 
immunity  at  that  age  from  further  contributions,  might  be 
secured  to  every  member,  no  matter  what  his  age,  by  raising 
the  existing  contributions  rather  less  than  20  per  cent. 

The  process  by  which  he  arrived  at  this  conclusion  was  as 
follows : — 

First  of  all,  the  rights  of  the  minority,  who  did  not  wish 
to  avail  themselves  of  the  proposal,  had  to  be  secured,  and 
the  proportion  of  the  surplus  belonging  to  them  ascertained. 
This  involved  no  little  calculation,  for  there  are  three  classes, 
three  scales  of  benefits  and  contributions  in  the  club,  and 
those  who  subscribed  for  first-class  benefits  had  of  course  a 
larger  stake  than  those  who  subscribed  for  second-class 
benefits,  and  the  second  class  than  the  third  class.  The 
ninety-five  who  were  in  favour  of  a  pension  scheme  belonged 
chiefly  to  the  first  class ;  the  seventy-one  who  were  against  it 
chiefly  to  the  second  and  third  classes.  Hence  the  proper 
division  of  the  surplus  gave  a  larger  sum  in  proportion  to 
their  numbers  to  the  ninety-five  than  to  the  seventy-one.  It 
was  found  that  £857  belonged  to  the  ninety-five,  and  £215 
to  the  seventy-one. 

Putting  aside,  therefore,  the  no-pension  members,  with 
their  £215  of  the  surplus,  the  existing  liabilities  and  assets 
of  the  members  desiring  a  pension  were  valued  as  follows : — 

Liabilities.  Assets. 

£ 
Present  value  of  sick  benefits  .     2,169      Proportionate  share   of  accu- 
Funeral  benefits      .         .         .        657  mulated  funds      .         .         .     1,745 

Balance,  being  surplus    .        .        857      Present  value  of  contributions     1,746 

Proportionate  share  of  district 

funds 192 


£3,683  £3,683 

The  next  step  was  to  ascertain  what  additional  liability 
would  be  entailed  upon  the  above  by  the  payment  of  pensions. 
Individual  calculations  were  made  on  the  assumption  that 
5s.  a  week,  commencing  at  sixty-five,  would  be  given  to  those 
members  who  are  under  that  age,  and  commencing  on  the 


184 


OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 


following  first  of  January,  to  such  members  as  would  then  be 
over  sixty-five.  The  calculation  showed  that  such  pensions 
would  be  of  the  present  value  of  £3,093. 

A  further  liability  would  be  incurred  by  the  cessation  at 
sixty-five  of  all  their  contributions.    This  worked  out  at  £269. 

On  the  other  hand,  when  pensions  began,  sick  pay  was  to 
cease,  and  this  asset  was  valued  at  £942. 

The  position  of  the  proposed  pension  fund  was  therefore 
represented  by  the  following  balance-sheet  : — 

PENSIONS  BEGINNING  AT  SIXTY-FIVE. 


Liabilities. 


Present  value  of  Pensions 


£ 
3,093 


Assets. 

Transferred  from  Sick  Fund 
because  of  cessation  of  sick 
pay,  less  cessation  of  con- 
tributions, £942-269 

Share  of  surplus 

Honorary  member's  subsidy   . 

Leaving  a  deficiency  of  . 


£'3,093 


673 

857 

1,200 

363 

£3,093 


This  sum  of  £363  had  therefore  to  be  provided  for  by  the 
special  contributions  of  members  subscribing  to  this  fund. 
As  the  future  contributions  of  these  members  at  their  existing 
rate  were  of  the  present  value  of  £1,746,  it  followed  that  the 
average  increase  of  such  contributions  would  be  slightly  under 
20  per  cent.1 

1  It  was  hoped  that  it  might  have  been  possible  to  make  the  pensions 
begin  at  the  age  of  sixty,  instead  of  sixty-five.  Mr.  Abbott,  therefore,  made  a 
calculation  on  this  basis.     It  came  out  as  follows  :  — 

PENSIONS  BEGINNING  AT  SIXTY. 

Assets. 


Liabilities. 
Present  value  of  Pensions 


£ 
4,456 


Transferred  from   Sick   Fund 
because  of  cessation  of  sick 
pay,   less  cessation  of  con- 
tributions, £1,214-435        .        779 
Share  of  surplus       .         .        .        857 

Subsidy 1,200 

Leaving  a  deficiency  of   .         .     1,620 


£4,456  £4,456 

This  would  have  necessitated  an  average  increase  of  93  per  cent,  in  the 


PENSIONS  AND   VOLUNTAEY   EFFOKT  185 

New  members  entering  the  club  do  not  benefit  by  the 
accumulated  surplus,  or  by  the  subsidy  by  which  it  has  been 
increased.  Their  contributions  have  to  be  such  as  are  suffi- 
cient, unaided,  to  provide  a  pension.  The  necessary  amount 
to  be  appropriated  to  the  pension  fund  by  new  members  was 
certified  by  Mr.  Abbott  to  be  :  For  persons  entering  at  eighteen, 
12s.  id.  a  year,  increasing,  according  to  a  scale  for  age,  to 
38s.  9d.  a  year  for  members  entering  at  thirty-nine — the 
highest  age  at  which  a  member  can  be  admitted. 

The  scheme  was  formally  submitted  to  a  general  meeting 
of  the  members,  in  September  1896,  and  adopted.  It  was  also 
made  henceforth  compulsory  on  all  new  members  to  contribute 
for  a  pension.  On  January  1,  1897,  the  new  scheme  came 
into  operation,  and  the  three  members  who  were  over  sixty- 
five  came  at  once  into  the  receipt  of  their  pensions. 

The  scale  for  new  members,  for  securing  first-class  benefits, 
ranges  from  2s.  O^d.  per  lunar  month,  for  a  person  entering 
at  eighteen,  to  4s.  8d.  for  a  person  entering  at  thirty-nine. 
This  secures  12s.  a  week  during  sickness  for  twenty-six 
weeks  ;  6s.  for  the  following  twenty-six  weeks ;  4s.  during  the 
remainder  of  sickness ;  a  pension  of  5s.,  with  cessation  of 
contributions,  at  sixty-five  ;  and  £12  for  funeral. 

For  second-  and  third-class  benefits  the  scale  is  propor- 
tionately lower.  In  addition  there  are  the  contributions  to  the 
management  fund,  out  of  which  the  doctor  is  paid,  which 
amount  to  Id.  a  month. 

There  are  probably  few  (if  any)  country  districts  in 
England  where  contributions  such  as  the  above  are  now  beyond 
the  means  of  the  labouring  population  ;  few  also,  it  may  be 
hoped,  in  which  neighbourly  and  intelligent  assistance — were 
the  need  and  the  opportunity  understood— would  not  be 
forthcoming.  In  some  way  or  other,  if  not  in  this  way,  a 
little  guidance,   a  little  private  help,   differing  in  each  case 

members'  contributions,  or  more  than  four  times  as  much  as  if  they  began  at 
sixty-five.  Such  an  increase  was  beyond  the  means  of  the  members,  and 
therefore  out  of  the  question, 


186  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

according  to  the  circumstances  and  the  need,  would  surely 
avail  to  foster  and  increase  the  provision  for  old  age. 

But  for  this  or  any  other  healthy  development  of  thrift 
it  is  essential  that  there  should  be  no  arbitrary  encouragement 
of  savings  to  take  any  one  special  channel,  no  drying  up  of 
the  springs  of  private  effort  and  duty  by  a  State  subsidy 
such  as  has  been  suggested,  and,  above  all,  no  discouragement 
such  as  for  the  last  six  or  eight  years  has  been  the  lamentable 
effect  of  the  ill-judged  anticipations  held  out.  It  has  been 
well  said  that  when  State-aid  comes  in,  or  even  looks  in,  at 
the  door,  thrift — and  it  might  be  added  Christian  charity — 
flies  out  at  the  window. 

J.  M. 


187 


XVI 
GOVERNMENT  AUDIT  OF  FRIENDLY  SOCIETIES  1 

The  revival  of  the  agitation  for  State  Pensions  for  members 
of  Friendly  Societies  has  naturally  brought  to  the  surface  the 
consideration  of  some  of  the  probable  conditions  which  states- 
men would  consider  necessary  to  impose  upon  the  societies 
in  the  event  of  the  State  undertaking  to  single  their  members 
out  from  the  people  generally  for  pension  purposes. 

The  general  argument  in  favour  of  members  of  Friendly 
Societies  being  accorded  pensions  over  other  needy  people  is 
that  the  members  of  the  societies  have  made  some  effort  to 
fulfil  the  common  duty  of  all  men  and  women,  to  provide  for 
their  own  necessities,  when  in  their  latter  days  their  ability  to 
toil  has  become  inadequate  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  higher 
standard  of  life  which  happily  now  prevails. 

Then  the  argument  is  advanced,  that  if  the  State  is  to 
come  to  these  members  in  a  special  form  the  State  must  of 
necessity  fix  upon  some  standard  of  security  to  which  the 
Friendly  Societies  must  give  assent  and  acquiescence.  This 
is  generally  understood  as  '  Government  control.'  Naturally, 
the  members  of  Friendly  Societies  who  have  so  far  developed 
their  societies  as  to  make  them  the  admiration  of  those  who 
care  to  give  serious  consideration  to  the  subject  object  to  such 
'  Government  control '  as  would  in  any  manner  tend  to  remove 
the  general  management  of  the  societies  from  the  control  of 
the  members  themselves.  They  argue :  '  We  and  our  pre- 
decessors have  so  far  successfully  conducted  these  societies ; 

1  Reprinted  from   The  Foresters'  Miscellany  for  June   1902,  by  the  kind 
permission  of  the  Editor. 


188  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

we  and  our  successors  may  therefore  be  trusted  to  continue 
the  operation  in  an  equally  successful  manner.  What  is  the 
minimum  of  this  Government  control  which  we  may  be 
expected  to  accept  ?  ' 

Then  comes  the  answer  of  the  advocate  of  State  Pensions 
to  the  members  of  Friendly  Societies  : 

Of  course,  we  do  not  desire  to  take  from  you  the  ordinary 
management  of  your  societies,  which  we  concede  has  been  and 
indeed  is  most  excellent ;  but  if  the  State  is  to  give  your  members 
Old-Age  Pensions,  why,  we  think  you  will  agree  with  us  that  a 
Government  audit  of  your  accounts  is  necessary,  so  that  the  State 
may  be  assured  that  your  business  is  properly  conducted,  and 
that  your  funds,  upon  which  your  members  rely  for  a  fulfilment  of 
your  contracts,  are  absolutely  safe. 

Now  we  think  this  is  certainly  the  minimum  of  State 
control  which  could  be  offered  to  the  societies,  and  which  the 
societies  could  be  expected  to  accept.  We  can  also  readily 
understand  the  ordinary  member  readily  assenting  to  the 
proposal.  The  ordinary  member  interests  himself  little  in 
the  duties  of  audit.  The  work  is  too  tedious  and  exacting  for 
him. 

To  those  who  offer  this  minimum  of  Government  control, 
however,  we  may  fairly  inquire,  Are  you  sure  of  your  ground  ? 
Is  a  Government  audit  the  one  thing  needful  to  secure  the 
permanency  of  the  Friendly  Society  ? 

With  some  experience,  and  some  knowledge  arising  there- 
out, and  with  a  due  appreciation  of  the  virtues  of  an  efficient 
audit,  we  venture  to  assert  that  much  more  than  a  Govern- 
ment audit  is  needed  to  promote  the  prosperity  and  secure  the 
permanence  of  a  Friendly  Society. 

Let  us  consider  the  matter  in  detail.  Under  existing 
conditions  it  is  necessary  to  obtain  certain  sources  of 
income  — 

First,  from  the  members,  in  the  shape  of  contributions. 

Second,  a  stipulated  rate  of  interest  upon  the  accumulated 
funds. 


GOVERNMENT  AUDIT  OF  FRIENDLY   SOCIETIES  189 

Now  the  members  must  supply  this  first  source  before 
there  can  be  any  chance  of  securing  the  second. 

Then  as  to  the  second,  the  State,  in  order  to  guarantee  the 
necessary  rate  of  interest,  must  insist  implicitly  upon  the 
character  of  the  investments  in  which  the  funds  are  to  be 
secured.  But  prior  to  this  the  State  must  have  a  rate  of 
contribution  for  the  benefits  which  their  experts  can  approve 
as  being  sufficient  for  the  benefits  assured. 

Let  us  assume,  therefore, 

(1)  Government  prepared  and  approved  scale  of  contribu- 
tions. 

(2)  Under  which  all  members  must  pay. 

(3)  Government  securities  in  which  all  the  accumulated 
funds  must  be  invested,  and  upon  which  Government  will  pay 
the  assumed  rate  of  interest  raised  out  of  the  taxation  of  the 
inhabitants  generally.  Does  it  not  follow  that  the  rate  of 
interest  will  be  the  lowest  possible  one  ?  This  minimum  of 
interest  will  require  the  payment  by  the  member  of  the 
maximum  of  contributions. 

Having  thus  secured  the  requisite  income  for  the  Friendly 
Societies,  we  may  reasonably  assume  that  the  '  Government 
audit '  will  not  be  lost  upon  the  society. 

But  there  is  also  the  expenditure  side  of  the  account  to  be 
considered,  and  we  may  well  ask,  Can  a  '  Government  audit ' 
insist  upon  all  the  claims  for  benefit  allowances  falling  in 
direct  accord  with  the  mathematical  exactitude  used  in  the 
preparation  of  the  tables  of  contributions  ?  Does  not  every- 
day experience  tell  us  that  the  claims  for  benefit  allowances 
fluctuate  considerably  ?  What  character  of  an  annual  audit 
will  enable  the  '  Government  auditor '  to  state  that  the 
experience  of  the  last  year,  with  whose  accounts  only  he  is 
concerned,  has  coincided  with  the  expectations  of  the  contri- 
bution table? 

The  Government  audit  may  possibly  reach  to  the  certifi- 
cation that  each  claim  for  benefits  has  been  made  in 
accordance  with  the  registered  rules,  and  has  been  so  met ; 


190  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

but  if  the  Government  audit  is  to  be  so  effective  as  to  control 
the  expenditure  as  efficiently  as  the  income,  then  it  will  be 
necessary  that  the  '  Government  audit '  should  include  in  its 
operations  the  periodic  valuations  of  Friendly  Societies. 

Let  us  assume  this  will  be  so  included,  and  where  shall 
we  find  ourselves  ? 

There  will  be  some  cases  where  the  experience  has  exactly 
coincided  with  the  expectation,  and  so  all  will  be  well. 

There  will  be  also  cases  where  the  experience  has  exceeded 
the  expectation,  and  where,  in  consequence  of  excessive 
expenditure,  of  a  legitimate  character,  having  failed  to  allow 
of  the  proper  reserves  being  accumulated,  there  will  be  a 
deficiency.  Will  the  '  Government  audit '  be  so  effectual  as  to 
wipe  out  this  deficiency  ? 

There  will  also  be  cases  where  the  cost  of  the  experience 
will  have  fallen  below  the  expectation,  and  where  the  balanc- 
ing will  show  a  surplus.  Will  the  '  Government  audit '  be 
such  as  to  enable  the  Government  to  seize  this  surplus  and  to 
devote  it  to  the  use  of  the  nation,  to  compensate  for  the  loss 
on  those  societies  whose  experience  has  disclosed  the  fact  that 
the  much-boasted  Government  tables  of  contributions  and  the 
Government  assured  rate  of  interest  have  been  of  non-effect  ? 
Or  will  the  '  Government  audit '  be  so  effectual  as  to  require 
those  whose  experience  has  failed  to  allow  the  society  to 
accumulate  its  proper  reserves  to  pay  additionally  for  their 
own  experience  ? 

We  ask  our  readers  to  carefully  consider  the  question  of 
'  Government  audit,'  and  then  we  think  they  will  admit  that 
in  order  to  secure  the  permanence  of  Friendly  Societies  the 
'  Government  audit '  will  have  to  do  much  more  than  the 
ordinary  member,  or,  for  the  matter  of  that,  the  ordinary 
member  of  Parliament,  had  hitherto  imagined. 

Certainly  we  don't  think  the  Friendly  Societies  of  Britain 
are  in  such  an  advanced  condition  as  to  cry  out  for  nationali- 
sation yet. 

G.  A. 


191 


XVII 
GERMANY 

The  German  system  of  so-called  insurance  for  infirmity  and 
old  age  was  introduced  only  in  1889  ;  the  Danish  system 
came  into  force  only  in  1892,  the  Belgian  in  1900,  the  New 
Zealand  in  1899,  the  New  South  Wales  and  the  Victorian 
in  1901  ;  the  Italian,  which  came  into  operation  in 
1899,  is  hardly  important,  and  may  be  passed  by  ;  nor  is 
reference  made  to  the  French  law  for  supplementing 
annuities  for  old  age.  As  an  illustration  of  method,  the 
Belgian  is  more  significant.  Clearly,  of  the  ultimate  results 
of  these  measures,  their  permanent  effect  on  habit,  it  is  not 
yet  possible  to  judge.     Some  symptoms  only  can  be  noted. 

The  systems  here  noted  are  of  four  kinds.  The  German 
is  a  method  of  relief,  the  funds  for  which  are  provided  by 
personal  contributions  levied  from  the  poorer  classes  and 
from  employers  for  certain  specific  purposes  and  supplemented 
by  State  grants ;  and  the  payment  of  this  levy  is  compulsory. 

The  Danish  is  an  enlargement  of  the  organisation  for 
public  relief :  those  above  the  age  of  sixty  acquire  a  title  to  an 
outdoor  allowance  or  to  an  equivalent  maintenance  in  an 
institution;  and  the  expenditure  on  this  account  is  met  partly  by 
local  taxes,  partly  by  a  grant  from  the  Exchequer.  The  Belgian 
system  consists  of  large  bounties  on  payments  towards  annuities 
provided  by  the  Government  either  directly  or  in  connection 
with  recognised  Mutual  Aid  Societies.  The  subsidy  in  aid  of 
these  payments  is  provided  from  general  taxation.  The  pay- 
ments are  not  compulsory  but  voluntary.     The  plan  adopted 


192  OLD-AGE  PENSIONS 

in  New  Zealand,  New  South  Wales,  and  Victoria  is  that  of  an 
income-equalisation  Act.  A  standard  of  necessary  income  in 
old  age  is  fixed  ;  and  all  persons  of  a  certain  age  are  entitled  to 
have  their  incomes  made  up  to  this  standard  unless  they  be 
actual  criminals  or  recently  convicted  delinquents.  No  con- 
tributory payments  towards  this  augmentation  of  income  are 
required  by  the  State. 

These  systems  are  not,  strictly  speaking,  schemes  of 
insurance.  They  are  all  methods  of  relief,  conditional  on 
the  payment  of  contributions,  or  poor  rates,  or  savings,  or 
non-criminality.  In  mode  of  operation,  however,  they  differ 
considerably.  One  depends  on  a  compulsory  personal  levy  ; 
another  is  statutory  poor  relief  ;  the  third  consists  of  a  bonus  on 
savings  ;  the  fourth  is  State  endowment  of  individual  incomes. 

In  Germany  four  kinds  of  insurance  dovetail  into  one 
general  system  :  accident  insurance,  sick  insurance,  and  insur- 
ance for  infirmity  (inualiditat),  and  old  age.  In  regard  to  the 
latter,  with  which  alone  we  are  concerned,  the  method  applies  to 
workmen  and  others  earning  2,000  marks  (or  rather  less  than 
£100)  a  year,  and  is  '  contributory  '—that  is,  the  benefit  fund  is 
maintained  by  contributions  from  the  employee  and  the  em- 
ployer plus  a  bonus  from  the  State.  Thus  towards  the  fund 
for  old  age  and  infirmity  the  employer  and  the  employed 
pay  equal  premiums  according  to  scales  of  wages,  grouped  in 
five  classes  ;  and  the  State  adds  fifty  marks  (or  about  £2.  10s.) 
payable  on  each  permanent  allowance  or  annuity. 

The  benefits  include  pensions  for  the  infirm — after  200 
contributory  weeks — forty-seven  such  weeks  in  the  year  ;  an 
Old- Age  Pension  after  seventy,  with  1,200  contributory  weeks, 
free  medical  advice  and  relief  to  the  family  during  illness.  If 
death  or  marriage  occur  before  the  payments  are  completed, 
they  are  returned.1 

See  '  Guide  to  the  Workmen's  Insurance  of  the  German  Empire, 
Kevised  Edition,  compiled  by  Dr.  Zacher,  Permanent  Member  of  the 
Imperial  Insurance  Department,  and  brought  up  to  date  for  the  Inter- 
national  Exhibition   at   Paris,    1900 ;    '  The  Results  of  the  Workmen's 


GERMANY  193 

'  Every  insured  person,  irrespective  of  age,  who  in  the 
meaning  of  Section  5  (4)  of  the  Law  of  1900  is  permanently 
incapable  of  earning  a  livelihood,  receives  an  infirmity 
pension.'  'Every  insured  person,  irrespective  of  the  existence 
of  incapacity  to  earn  a  livelihood,  who  has  completed  his 
or  her  seventieth  year,  receives  an  Old-Age  Pension.'  '  Every 
insured  person  who  is  not  permanently  incapable  of  earning  a 
livelihood,  but  has  been  incapable  of  earning  a  livelihood 
during  twenty-eight  weeks  uninterruptedly,  receives  an  in- 
firmity pension  for  the  further  time  during  which  he  is 
incapable  of  earning  a  livelihood.'  (Sickness  and  Old-Age 
Insurance  Law  1900,  Sections  15  and  16.) 

The  definition  of  incapacity  to  earn  a  livelihood  is — that 
'  an  insured  person  (Section  5  (4) )  is  no  longer  in  a  position  to 
earn  by  work,  which  corresponds  to  his  powers  and  capabilities 
and  can  reasonably  be  expected  of  him  from  his  training  and 
previous  calling,  a  third  of  the  money  which  similar  persons 
in  good  bodily  and  mental  conditions  are  accustomed  to  earn  by 
work  after  similar  training  and  in  the  same  neighbourhood.'1 

The  average  Old- Age  Pension  in  1899  was  £1.  Is.  Id.,  of 
an  invalidity  allowance  £6.  lis.  7d.2 

The  maximum  Old-Age  Pension  was  4s.  5'01d.,  and  the 
minimum  2s.  l'3d.  a  week,  under  the  New  Law.'* 

Insurance  of  the  German  Empire,'  compiled  for  the  Paris  International 
Exhibition,  1900,  at  the  request  of  the  Imperial  Insurance  Office,  by 
G.  A.  Klein,  L.D.,  Imperial  Counsellor  and  Permanent  Member  of  the 
Imperial  Insurance  Office,  1900  ;  No.  518  Miscellaneous  Series  Diplo- 
matic and  Consular  Reports,  '  German  Law  of  1901  on  Sickness  and  Old 
Age  Insurance,'  Foreign  Office,  December  1899  ;  AmtUche  Nach/richten 
den  Reichs  Versicherungsamts,  January  1, 1901  (Berlin)  ;  Labour  Gazette, 
March  1901.  By  the  law  of  1900  the  number  of  contributory  weeks 
(p.  325)  was  reduced  to  200  before  an  allowance  for  infirmity  (invaliditat) 
could  be  claimed — the  contributions  remaining  the  same;  and  for  an  Old- 
Age  Pension  the  contributory  weeks  were  reduced  from  1,410  to  1,200. 

1  Miscellaneous  Series  Diplomatic  and  Consular  Reports,  1899, 
No.  518,  pp.  11  and  15. 

~  Labour  Gazette,  Feb.  1899,  p.  38,  and  1901,  p.  72. 

3  Cf.  Labour  Gazette,  Sept.  1899,  p.  259. 

O 


194 


OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 


With   these    boons   in    prospect    is    dependence   largely 
increasing?     The  answer  is  given  in  the  following  figures  : — 

New  Permanent  Allowances  or  Pensions. 


■ — 

Infirmity 

Old  Age 

Sick 

1896 
1897 
1898 
1899 
1900 

60,562' 
71,733' 
80,836' 
96,6552 
125,821- 

25,402' 
21,688' 
18,826' 
17,326- 
19,867- 

6,677- 

such 
were 


Total  persons  drawing  allowances  : 3 

Jan.  1,  1898,  414,503. 

Jan.  1,  1899,  466,218,  an  increase  of  12  per  cent. 
In  the  year  1899  the  recipients  numbered  557, 800.3 

These  results  occur  in  a  contributory  system, 
as  might  be  established  if  the  Friendly  Societies 
organised  into  a  State  Insurance  Fund.  The  bulk  of  the  cost, 
about  64  per  cent.,4  falls  on  the  employer  and  employed  and 
may  be  considered  a  deduction  from  wages,  though  half  is 
actually  so  deducted  and  half  is  paid  by  the  employer.  Yet 
even  in  these  circumstances  the  demand  for  relief  increases 
continually. 

The  method  indeed,  as  the  above  quotations  from  the 
recent  Act  sufficiently  show,  is  not  one  of  insurance  but  of 
poor  relief — poor  relief  administered  for  certain  limited  pur- 
poses, and  paid  for  in  accordance  with  periodical  estimates 
by  contributions  instead  of  out  of  taxes  or  rates  and  taxes. 
The  infirmity  and  old  age  '  insurances  '  cover  all  those  cases 

1  See  Labour  Gazette,  Feb.  1899,  p.  38,  and  May  1900,  p.  132. 

2  See  Amtllche  Nachricliten  den  Belchs  Versicherv/ngeamta,  1900, 
p.  126  ;  1901,  p.  125. 

:1  Labour  Gazette,  Feb.  1899,  p.  38,  and  1901,  p.  72. 

4  By  employer  and  employed  (1899),  48,230,555  marks ;  by  State, 
26,933,477  marks.  Amtlicke Nachrichteu  des Beiclis-Versicherungt>amtx, 
17.   Jahrgang,  No.  1,  January  1901,  p.  126. 


GERMANY  195 

in  which  in  England  application  might  be  made  to  the  Poor 
Law  by  persons  not  able-bodied. 

The  population  of  Germany  is  51,770,284  ;  '  the  recipients 
of  infirmity  or  old-age  allowances  number  466,218,  or  9 
per  thousand,  apart  from  Poor-law  relief  and  help  in 
sickness  and  accidents.  Those  that  receive  help  from  the 
local  Poor  Authorities  before  passing  on  to  the  State  funds  or 
subsequently  are  numerous,  and  the  amount  of  poor  relief 
increases.2 

These  figures  are  comparable  with  the  figures  of  English 
not  able-bodied  paupers.  They  numbered  on  January  1, 
1899,  o98,7933,  or  12  per  thousand  on  a  population  of 
32,526,075. 

Germany,  it  is  clear,  is  creating,  probably  has  already 
created,  for  itself  as  large  a  number  of  national  dependents  or 
paupers  (whatever  may  be  the  name  by  which  they  are 
called)  as  England  and  Wales. 

The  charges  for  poor  relief  are  on  the  increase,  as  are  also 
the  number  of  recipients.  There  are  no  recent  figures  in 
regard  to  pauperism  in  Germany  as  a  whole. 

The  following  apply  to  Berlin  : 

Continuous  Uelief  in  Money. 


At  end  of  Year 

Recipients 

A  mount  (Marks) 

1889-90      . 
1899  1900. 

18,668                               2,669,565 
29,458'  57-79                  5,137,847'  92-45 

Between  1890  and  1900  the  population  of  Berlin  increased 

1   Census  of  1895,  Ergdnzungsheft :   Vierteljahrshefte  zur  StvutisUk 
des  Deutscheii  liciclia,  1847. 

-  Cf .  Armenpflege  and  Arbeiterversicherung,  Schriften  des  Deutschen 
Vereinfiir  Armenpflege,  1893,  p.  100. 

3  Annual  Report :  Local  Government  Board,  1900,  1901,  pp.  358,  359. 

1  Statisfischer  Jalirbuch  <ler  Stadt  Berlin  (1902),  p.  405. 

o  2 


196  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

at  the  rate  of  19  per  cent.,1  while  the  recipients  of  continuous 
outdoor  relief  in  money  increased  57*79  per  cent.,  and  the 
expense  of  relieving  them  by  92-45  per  cent. 

The  recipients  of  continuous  out-door  relief  by  the  day 
count  at  the  end  of  the  year  were  fifteen  per  thousand  of  the 
population. 

In  the  whole  year  1898-99  the  recipients  of  continuous 
poor  relief  allowances  numbered  40,985,  and  the  expenditure 
upon  them  amounted  to  (5,307,711  marks,  say  £308,300. 

These  figures  do  not  include  temporary  or  casual  relief 
(extraunterstiitzung) ,  nor  relief  in  kind,  nor  relief  by  main- 
tenance in  institutions — indoor  relief.2 

In  Berlin,  it  is  evident,  if  we  may  take  that  city  as  an 
illustration,  an  increasing  pauperism  accompanies  the  system 
of  old-age  and  infirmity  allowances  or  pensions.  Relief  by 
the  so-called  ■  insurance  '  or  '  contributory  '  system  does  not, 
it  would  seem,  reduce  general  dependence  but  rather  fosters 
it,  and  imposes  on  the  community  a  still  larger  burthen  of 
pauperism  and  expenditure.  If  this  is  the  result  on  the 
'  contributory  '  method  it  is  likely  to  be  greater  rather  than 
less  if  schemes  for  universal  pensions  or  Poor-law  pensions 
are  adopted. 

The  returns  of  one  or  two  other  towns  confirm  this  view. 
They  do  not  indicate  any  permanent  reduction  of  pauperism 
attributable  to  the  •  insurance  '  Acts.  Bather  it  would  seem 
that  even  where  there  is  careful  administration  on  the  German 
method  of  poor  relief,  pauperism  tends  to  follow  close  on  the 
heels  of  population.  This  is  noteworthy,  as  generally,  when 
the  population  of  a  town  or  union  is  largely  increased  by  im- 
migration, the  percentage  of  pauperism  to  population  is  much 
diminished. 


1   Cf.  p.  48,  Jaltrbuch,  1902. 

'-'  It  is  hardly  possible  to  compare  the  figures  of  pauperism  in  Berlin 
with  those  in  London.  The  outdoor  pauperism  of  London,  March  4, 
1001,  was  8"45  per  thousand  of  the  population. 


GEEMANY  197 

The  returns  of  three  cities  may  be  cited,  Hamburg,  Frank  - 
fort-on-the-Main,  and  Elberfeld. 

Hamburg  has  a  population  of  705,738.  The  monthly 
average  of  cases  of  continuing  outdoor  relief,1  that  is,  cases  in 
which  a  single  gift  did  not  suffice,  were  fewer  : — 


Percentage  of  persons 

to  relieved 

on  population. 


1894 9,397  3-31 

1901 8,800  '2-51 


On  the  other  hand,  the  recipients  of  outdoor  sick  relief  in 
1900  numbered  16,864;  in  1901,  17,145,'2  an  increase  of 
about  2  per  cent. ;  and  the  recipients  of  indoor  sick  relief  were 
10,850  in  1896,  and  13,696  in  1901/  increasing  26  per  cent., 
while  in  the  Poor  House  the  numbers  on  January  1  of  these 
years  were  1,454  and  1,490,4  increasing  2  per  cent. 

At  Frankfort-on-Main  in  1888-9,  the  year  of  the  German 
Act,  the  population  was  167,000;  in  1900  it  was  266,000— 
an  increase  of  59  per  cent.  The  persons  in  receipt  of  indoor 
and  outdoor  relief  numbered  11,757  in  1888-9,  and  19,765  in 
1900,  an  increase  of  68  per  cent.5 

At  Elberfeld  since  1889  the  population  has  increased  27 
per  cent.,  from  123,000  (1889-90)  to  157,000  (1900-1901). 
The  average  number  of  cases  in  receipt  of  outdoor  relief 
during  the  year  has  increased  from  886  to  1,023,  or  15  per 
cent. ;  cases  of  sick  relief  have  increased  from  2,357  to  3,954, 
or  67  per  cent.      Neglected  children  under  the  care  of  the 

1  Jahresbericht  des  Armen-Collegiums,  1901,  p.  5. 

-  Bericht,  as  above,  1900,  p.  8  ;    1901,  p.  8. 

:;  Bericht,  1899,  p.  7  ;  1901,  p.  9. 

'  Bericht,  1901,  p.  15.  Comparing  1889  (the  year  in  which  the  German 
Old- Age  Pension  system  was  introduced),  with  1902,  the  figures  are  1,088 
and  1,560. 

5   Waisen  unci  Armenamt  :  Anlage  B.,  p.  18. 


198  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

town  at  the  end  of  these  years  from  90  to  182.     Inmates  o 
the  Poor  House  from  214  to  250.     At  the  Town  Orphanage 
and  the  Home  for  Deserted  Children  the  numbers  had  de- 
creased from  168  to  154  ;  and  from  174  to  160.1 

Clearly,  then,  '  Old-Age  Pensions,'  even  if  coupled  with 
insurance  against  infirmity  and  sickness,  is  no  safeguard 
against  pauperism,  nor  does  it  reduce  it.  Those  who  think 
that  it  will  are  at  fault  in  their  analysis  of  pauperism.  It  is 
due  not  to  financial  strain  so  much  as  to  economic  and  moral 
hahit. 

C.  S.  L. 

1  Jahresbericht,  1889  90,  p.  10.  &c. ;  1900  1901.  p.  19.  &e. 


199 


XVIII 
GERMANY 

Germany  was  the  first  country  to  adopt  a  system  of  State- 
subsidised  Old-Age  Pensions,  and  may  be  said  by  such  action 
to  have  done  much  to  provoke  elsewhere  the  demand  now 
heard  for  similar  legislation.  After  the  German  law  has  been 
fully  nine  years  in  operation  it  may  be  interesting  to  inquire 
what  have  been  its  results,  and  how  much  of  the  hopes  with 
which  it  was  launched  has  been  realised. 

The  dominating  idea  in  the  law  manifestly  is  very 
much  the  same  as  that  which  we  now  hear  so  warmly 
pleaded  for  in  this  country,  namely,  the  idea  of  '  the  endow- 
ment of  thrift.'  The  '  contributory  '  method  actually  selected 
to  carry  that  idea  into  execution,  and  upon  which  so  very 
much  more  stress  is  now  being  laid  in  some  quarters  than  it 
really  deserves — as  if  it  marked  an  essential  difference  from 
other  cognate  schemes — is  in  truth  only  a  point  of  detail. 
That  method  was  never  intended  as  more  than  the  most 
logical  and  convenient  means  to  an  end.  What  above  all  things, 
according  to  its  own  explanations,  the  German  Government 
sought  to  avoid,  and  what  it  still  strongly  opposes,  was  the 
creation  of  a  system  of  mere  indiscriminate  awarding  of  pen- 
sions, granted  on  the  sole  ground  of  a  certain  age  having 
been  reached,  which  it  described  as  simply  '  extended  out-door 
relief,'  alike  demoralising  and  costly.  In  its  view  the  pen- 
sioner must  be  made  to  provide  in  some  measure  for  his  own 
wants  by  thrift,  independently  of  the  law.  Accordingly,  in  the 
first  place,  the  pensions  to  be  granted  were  advisedly  fixed  low. 


*00  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

In  1893  they  averaged  £6  each,  and  hy  1899  they  had  still 
only  grown  to  £8  3s.  They  were,  as  the  Government  was 
careful  to  explain,  to  be  '  more  than  mere  pocket  money,'  but 
yet  '  subsidiary  only '  to  the  results  of  independent  thrift,  which 
form  of  thrift  they  were  directly  designed  to  stimulate.  How- 
ever, out  and  out  the  most  effective  way  of  insuring  thrift  the 
authors  of  the  measure  held  to  be,  was  to  make  the  future  pen- 
sioners contribute  to  their  own  pensions.  Hence,  in  the  second 
place,  the  '  contributory  '  method  was  selected.  The  amount 
demanded  was  not  large.  It  stands  now  at  4*64s.  a  year 
per  workman  or  working  woman  insured.  To  bring  the  benefit 
to  be  derived  from  this  up  to  a  decent  figure,  the  employer  is 
made  to  contribute  4*65s.  more  (per  workman  or  working  woman 
insured),  and  the  State  2*88s.,  in  the  shape  of  a  fixed  subven- 
tion of  50s.  per  annum  to  each  pension.1  But  do  something 
towards  creating  his  own  pension  the  workman  must,  and  he 
must  do  it  during  a  lengthened  period.  Leaving  out  of  account 
purely  transitional  arrangements,  which  apply  to  men  and 
women  over  forty  on  January  1,  1891,  unless  the  claimant 
can  show  that  he  has  paid  contributions  for  1,410  weeks,  now 
reduced  to  1,200— which  stand,  roughly  speaking,  for  thirty 
years  of  40  working  weeks — as  well  as  that  he  is  qualified 
under  the  schedule  and  under  other  clauses  of  the  law,  he  is 
not  held  entitled  to  his  pension,  whatever  his  age,  his  conduct, 
or  his  need. 

It  was  to  make  as  sure  as  human  forethought  could  that 
this  cardinal  condition  of  thrift  would  be  fulfilled  that  the 
Government  resorted  to  that  peculiar  machinery  for  which  its 
measure  has  been  so  much  criticised,  with  its  weekly  stamps 
and  cards,  a  rigorous  control,  a  Draconic  code  of  pains  and 
penalties,  the  creation  of  31  great  provincial  and  nine  additional 
more  or  less  self-governing  offices  (the  former  with  about  4,000 

1  This  means  rewarding  thrift  in  an  inverse  ratio  to  the  measure  in  which 
it  is  practised.  For  the  beneficiary  who  pays  most  towards  his  own  pension 
receives  only  13^  per  cent,  of  the  amount  of  his  contributions  as  an  additional 
endowment  from  the  State  ;  whereas  he  that  pays  least  receives  511  per  cent. 


GERMANY  201 

unsalaried  officers  attached  to  each),  which  were  to  exercise 
careful  discrimination  and  a  vigilant  control ;  moreover,  525 
courts  of  arbitration,  to  decide  upon  disputed  claims  (whose 
jurisdiction,  with  over  34,000  cases  carried  before  them  in  the 
year,  is  no  sinecure),  and  a  Court  of  Second  Instance  above 
them,  which  disposes  annually  of  about  4,000  appeals.  All 
this  complicated  and  troublesome  apparatus,  so  the  Govern- 
ment spokesmen  insist,  might  be  dispensed  with  to-morrow, 
more  particularly  the  objectionable  collecting  cards,  once  the 
ruling  principle  of  the  law  was  abandoned  and  '  endowment  of 
thrift '  were  made  to  give  place  to  indiscriminate  relief,  with- 
out a  contribution  exacted  from  the  beneficiary.  As  the  object 
of  the  law  stands,  so  the  Government  has  concluded,  after 
prolonged  and  careful  inquiry,  and  a  passing  in  review  of  all 
known  alternative  schemes,  the  machinery  selected  must  be 
adhered  to,  for  without  it  the  object  aimed  at  must  be 
missed. 

The  law  has  been  put  into  operation  in  Germany,  as  we 
shall  do  well  to  remember,  under  peculiarly  favourable  con- 
ditions, being  applied  by  a  staff  thoroughly  well  drilled  and 
disciplined,  and  scrupulously  painstaking,  to  a  population 
exceptionally  docile  and  accustomed  to  Government  super- 
vision in  all  things.  The  question  now  to  be  answered  is :  How 
has  it  succeeded  ? 

The  reply  to  be  gathered  from  last  year's  debates  in  the 
German  Parliament  on  the  new  version  of  the  law,  which  has 
now  replaced  the  old,  cannot  be  regarded  as  favourable. 
Criticism  was  general  and  severe,  and  the  Government 
experienced  serious  difficult}7  in  meeting  all  attacks.  Even 
so  thorough-going  a  supporter  of  the  Government  system  as 
Herr  Moller  admitted  that  the  results  are  not  all  that  might 
be  wished,  and,  by  way  of  encouragement,  he  contented 
himself  with  pointing  to  a  brighter  future.  However 
defective  the  law  is  now,  so  he  said,  it  is  by  degrees  to  be 
made  perfect.  Other  speakers  expressed  themselves  in  con- 
siderablv  stronger  terms. 


202  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

There  are  at  the  outset  of  an  examination  two  decidedly 
awkward  facts  to  be  taken  into  account.  In  the  first  place, 
the  law  has,  since  its  first  adoption,  required  rather  consider- 
able tinkering.  If  public  opinion  be  right,  the  last  such 
process  undertaken  leaves  it  just  as  imperfect  as  ever. 
Professor  Van  der  Borght,  an  undoubted  authority,  and, 
generally  speaking,  a  supporter  of  German  methods  of 
working  men's  insurance,  does  not  scruple  publicly  to  call 
it,  '  a  law  dictated  by  embarrassment '  (ein  Verlegen- 
heitsgesetz) ,  and  describes  its  enactments  as  '  mere  first 
beginnings,  open  to  many  objections,  and  calling  of  necessity 
for  further  legislation'  (' erste  Anldufe,  gegen  die  sich  vieles 
einwenden  lasst  und  die  nothgedrungen  zu  weiteren  Schritten 
fiiltreii  werden  ').  In  the  second  place,  readily  and  widely  as 
German  compulsory  sick  and  accident  insurance  has  been  copied 
by  other  States  on  the  Continent,  not  a  single  Government  has 
so  much  as  ventured  to  propose  that  Old-Age  Pensions  of 
the  German  type  should  be  adopted.  Of  the  two  01dAg6 
Pension  schemes  now  in  force  elsewhere,  it  may  be  remarked 
that  the  Danish  differs  entirely  from  the  German  in  principle. 
Dr.  Bodiker,  late  President  of  the  German  State  Insurance 
Department,  in  his  published  book,  absolutely  repudiates  it  as 
German  offspring,  and  points  out  that  it  is  nothing  more  than 
'  an  extension  of  outdoor  poor  relief,'  an  endowment,  not  of 
1  thrift,'  but  of  '  need,'  and,  indeed,  bound  directly  to  discou- 
rage thrift.  And  the  new  Italian  law,  which  has  only  just 
come  into  force,  with  its  paltry  Government  grant  of  £400,000 
capital,  which  private  charity  is  expected  to  increase  to 
£800,000,  and  without  compulsion,  is  of  a  different  texture 
altogether. 

However,  apart  from  merely  suggestive  indicia,  there  is, 
unfortunately,  more  positive  evidence  to  show  that  the  law, 
judged  by  the  standard  which  its  own  authors  set  up,  has  not 
proved  a  success. 

It  has  not  brought  about  better  relations  between 
employers  and  employed.     Rather  has  it  raised  fresh  points 


GERMANY  203 

of  difference.  It  has  not  promoted  thrift  outside  the  range 
of  its  own  enactments.  Not  so  much  as  a  pretence  is  set  up 
to  this  effect.  And  within  that  range  it  has  made  people 
thrifty  only  by  compelling  them  to  be  so.  It  is  the  police- 
man and  not  the  Government  bribe  that  has  made  workmen 
insure.  Were  compulsion  to  be  withdrawn,  so  it  is  admitted, 
working  men's  insurance  of  themselves  would  cease  at  once. 
The  offer  of  additional  benefits  in  return  for  higher  voluntary 
premiums  has  produced  results  so  utterly  insignificant  that 
the  Government  has  thought  it  wise  to  drop  the  clause 
relating  to  it  altogether  in  the  new  law,  and  to  discontinue 
issuing  the  supplementary  stamps.  The  working  folk  who 
escape  liability  to  insure  on  legal  grounds  count  it  gain  to  be 
so  rid  of  their  '  benefit.'  And,  although  greater  vigilance  has 
succeeded  in  reducing  the  practice  of  shirking,  a  considerable 
number  of  persons  who  are  legally  liable  still  manage  success- 
fully to  evade  their  obligation.  In  1893  the  proportion  of 
such  persons  was  ascertained  to  be  about  one  in  four. 

The  working  classes  have,  indeed,  never  accepted  '  endow- 
ment of  thrift '  as  an  indispensable  feature,  a  permanent 
limitation  of  the  measure.  They  have  taken  what  they  could 
get.  But  in  their  view  the  dominant  principle  of  the  law  is, 
not  that  it  offers  a  reward  for  thrift,  but  that  it  gives  them  a 
statutory,  indefeasible  right  to  a  pension,  of  the  present 
insufficiency  of  which  they  complain,  but  which  by  means  of 
such  power  as  they  exercise  they  make  it  their  steady 
endeavour  to  have  increased.  They  are  for  the  time  satisfied 
with  the  reflection  that  the  principle  of  a  pension  has  been 
conceded  to  them.  They  resent  the  discrimination  with 
which  it  is  awarded,  but  put  up  with  that  till  it  can  be  got 
rid  of.  They  pay  the  contribution  exacted  from  them,  but 
look  forward  to  the  time  when  all  will  be  paid  by  others. 
The  educational  effect  of  the  measure  has  been  nil.  Working 
men  and  women  resent  the  interference  and  the  supervision 
practised  ;  they  hate  the  collecting  cards,  which  they  suspect  of 
being  used  for  improper  purposes,  to  put  a  secret  bad  mark 


204  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

against  their  names  ;  and,  in  general,  they  regard  the 
measure  as*  nothing  more  than  a  stepping-stone  to  something 
better. 

The  employers  are  equally  dissatisfied,  and,  as  they  will 
have  it,  with  better  cause.  Whatever  be  the  value  of  the 
measure,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  it  puts  most  onerous  obli- 
gations upon  their  class,  and  subjects  them  to  extremely 
irritating  interference  on  the  part  of  the  authorities,  with 
heavy  penalties  held  in  reserve  for  infringement  or  mere 
negligence.  They  are  responsible  for  the  proper  stamping  of 
their  workmen's  cards,  though  the  workman  may,  if  he  so 
chooses,  purchase  and  affix  the  stamps  himself,  and  recover 
half  the  amount  from  the  employer.  If  there  should  be  a 
question,  such  as  not  unfrequently  will  arise,  as  to  which  of 
several  employers  employing  the  same  man  within  one  week 
is  liable,  or  in  which  proportion  each  is  to  contribute,  there 
may  be  troublesome  negotiations  or  a  reference  to  the  Court 
of  Arbitration,  with  the  possibility  of  a  fine  imposed.  The 
mere  difficulty  and  labour  involved  in  the  recurring  small 
deductions  from  the  men's  wages  are  so  great  that,  to  avoid 
them,  many  agricultural  employers  prefer  by  choice  to  bear 
the  entire  cost  of  the  insurance  themselves.  The  pecuniary 
burden  laid  upon  employers  is  considerable.  As  a  class  they 
now  pay  in  all  over  £7,000,000  a  year  towards  working  men's 
insurance,  whereof  Old-Age  and  Disablement  Insurance 
stands  for  about  £1,500,000,  besides  what  is  levied  in  taxes 
towards  the  State  subvention.  And  the  amount  is  growing 
perceptibly  from  year  to  year.  In  1910  the  minimum  to  be 
raised  by  employer  and  workmen,  independently  of  State  endow- 
ment, for  Old- Age  Pensions  only,  is  estimated  at  £5,500,000;  for 
1950  at  £8,700,000.  This  is  without  allowing  for  an  increase 
in  the  average  rate  of  pensions,  such  as  is  evidently  in  pro- 
gress. In  respect  of  the  past,  manifestly  the  addition  of 
£2  3-s.  on  an  average  to  each  pension,  which  has  taken  place 
since  1893,  totals  up  to  a  substantial  figure,  seeing  that  it 
applies  to  (in  1898)  no  less  than  510,500  pensions  (222,500 


GERMANY  205 

Old-Age  and  294,000  Disablement).  And  this  tax  is  made  to 
press  upon  employers  with  peculiar  severity,  because  the 
Insurance  Department,  being  bound  to  make  sure  of  the 
presence  of  sufficient  funds  to  meet  all  liabilities,  levies 
the  large  sums  spoken  of  in  the  productive  market,  to  lay 
them  up,  like  the  pound  in  the  napkin,  where  they  must  be 
useless,  and,  indeed,  become  a  source  of  serious  embarrass- 
ment to  their  custodians.  There  is  already  £37,344,000  laid 
up  in  this  fashion,  and  before  long  the  figure  will  have  grown 
to  £50,000,000.  All  this  is  withdrawn  from  the  productive 
sphere  of  economic  national  life  and  invested  only  in  the 
safest  of  safe  securities.  This  is  felt  as  a  serious  loss  to 
business  enterprise.  In  despair  at  such  a  state  of  things 
Insurance  Offices  have  sought  for  loopholes  permitting  more 
useful  employment.  They  have  found  at  any  rate  one,  and 
now  lend  out  a  small  portion  of  their  funds  for  the  con- 
struction of  working  men's  dwellings,  hospitals,  schools,  and 
the  like.  Up  to  the  end  of  1898  £4,244,630  was  so  em- 
ployed, leaving  £33,000,000  still  burdening  their  guardians' 
hands. 

The  German  Government,  when  it  took  this  affair  in 
hand,  satisfied  itself  of  the  absolute  impossibility,  on  financial 
grounds — apart  from  those  moral  objections  by  which  it  sets 
considerable  store — of  applying  a  system  of  wholesale  and  in- 
discriminate Old-Age  Pensions.  The  burden  of  such  must,  in 
its  opinion,  be  crushing.  Even  the  reduction  of  the  pensionable 
age  limit  from  seventy  to  sixty-five  appears  to  it  unacceptable 
on  the  same  grounds,  inasmuch  as  it  would  just  about  double 
the  expense  to  be  incurred.  The  experience  gained  under  its 
law,  ingeniously  contrived  and  carefully  elaborated  as  it  is, 
must,  it  is  to  be  feared,  have  brought  it  to  realise  that  a  pen- 
sions system  limited  to  '  the  endowment  of  thrift '  presents 
almost,  if  not  altogether,  as  serious  difficulties,  and  can,  more- 
over, have  at  best  only  a  very  unstable  basis  to  rest  upon. 

Greater  care,  so  it  will  have  to  be  admitted,  could  not 
possibly  have  been  exercised    in    enforcing    the  condition  of 


206  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

thrift.    In  this  country  we  should  have  to  he  content  with  very 
much  less.     Nevertheless,  results  have  shown  the  safeguards 
employed  to  be  insufficient.      Cases  of    fraudulent    evasion 
have  been  frequent.      And  it  cannot  be  pretended  that  the 
method  which    makes    cards — which   are,  after  all,  liable  to 
destruction  and  obliteration  as  well  as  to  loss — the  only  record 
of  each  transaction  is  ideal  on  the  score  of  safety.     Were  any 
of  those  cards  to  be  destroyed,  what   would  become  of  the 
insurance  ?     In  Germany,  where  clerk  labour  is  abnormally 
cheap,  it  has  at  any  rate   been  found  possible  to  work  the 
colossal    machinery  believed  to  be  required  at   a   moderate 
cost — somewhere  about  £224,000  per  annum  for  administra- 
tion.   Since  curative  treatment  (for  disabled  persons)  has  been 
lumped  together  in  the  accounts  with  administration,  it  has 
become  difficult  to  separate  the  two  heads.    But  the  collective 
charge  for  the  two,  less  than  £'450,000,  can  certainly  not  be 
held  excessive.    However,  elsewhere  that  sum  would  not  suffice. 
And  in  Germany  the  machinery  for  which  it  has  been  expended 
has   proved    inadequate.      It    has    been    found    necessary  to 
appoint  additional  '  controllers,'  whose   salaries  swell  the  out- 
goings.    There   are  now  a  thousand,  in  the  course  of  time 
probably  more,  new    local    sub-offices    (Rente nstelleu)    to    be 
added,    which    will  cost  at  least   £500,000  annually.     Also, 
it  has  been  discovered   that   the   original    schedule  was  too 
narrowly  drawn.     Fresh  classes  of  beneficiaries  have  accord- 
ingly been  let  in,  which  means  more  insurance  and  therefore 
heavier  payments,  alike  for  employer  and  for  taxpayer.     To 
satisfy  the.  growing  demand  for  '  more  pensions,'  the  Govern- 
ment has  in  the  new  law  considerably  extended  the  provision 
made  for   '  voluntary  insurance  '  by  classes  of  workmen  and 
independent  artisans  not  included  in  the  obligatory  schedule, 
with  the  aid  of  this  same  State  grant.     Such  insurance  is,  as 
lias  been  already  pointed  out  in  Germany,  sought,  and,  accord- 
ing to  the  nature  of  things,  likely  to  be  applied  for,  only  by  the 
feeble  and  delicate,  the  '  bad  liver '  within  the  classes  admitted 
as  optional  insurers,  which  is  bound  to  make  the  business  a 


<  I  HUMAN Y  207 

ruinoiivS  one  for  the  State,  inasmuch  as  only  average  premiums 
are,  and  can  be,  asked. 

All  this  tends  to  make  working  men's  insurance  more 
general  and  more  costly,  and  he  would  be  a  bold  man  who 
would  pretend,  even  on  the  ground  of  official  optimism,  that 
anything  like  finality  has  yet  been  reached.  There  is  not  a  soul 
in  Germany  who  sets  up  such  a  pretence.  The  opinions 
already  quoted  show  that  on  the  contrary  people  look  forward  to 
substantial  and  early  further  modifications.  The  entire  mould- 
ing of  the  law  is  really  too  artificial ;  the  division — to  quote  one 
example — now  effected  between  '  common  '  charges  and  '  local ' 
charges — the  former  including  three-fourths  of  the  Old-Age 
Pensions — is  too  unreasonable  and  capricious  to  promise 
anything  like  permanency.  Again,  since  protection  of  the 
health  of  future  pensioners  is  considered  an  essential  condi- 
tion of  the  law,  it  has  been  found  necessary  to  invest  the  Old- 
Age-Pensions  authority  with  special  powers  of  factory 
inspectors,  by  which  means  the  number  of  inspecting 
authorities,  issuing  independent  and  possibly  conflicting 
orders,  has  been  brought  up  to  five.  This  is,  as  German 
employers  complain,  a  state  of  things  not  permanently 
tolerable.  The  law,  unfortunately — as  Germans  own — is 
there.  Whatever  its  shortcomings,  it  cannot  be  got  rid  of. 
'  All  that  we  can  attempt  to  do,'  so  its  administrators  admit, 
'  is  to  remedy  its  defects  one  by  one.'  And  that  threatens 
to  prove  a  tedious  process. 

And  mark  what  has  followed  from  all  this.  The  law  is 
from  time  to  time  being  modified.  But  all  modifications  tend 
in  one  direction  only,  the  direction  which  the  Government 
purposely  rejected  and  still  detests  and  abhors.  Facts  are 
growing  too  strong  for  it.  Since  limited  application  and  a 
discriminating  character  are  asserted  to  necessitate  machinery 
so  hopelessly  cumbrous  and  artificial,  and  give  rise  to  so 
many  hitches  and  so  many  irregularities  as  to  make  it  in  the 
long  run  scarcely  defensible,  people  have  been  led  to  believe 
that  the  only  change  promising  real  improvement  must  be 


208  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

that  of  replacing  limited  by  unlimited,  discriminating  by 
indiscriminate  old-age  relief,  carried  out  at  the  cost  of  the 
State,  or  else  the  State  and  the  employers,  to  the  exclusion  of 
the  workmen.  That,  at  any  rate,  would  introduce  greater 
simplicity.  Concurrently,  for  further  simplification,  from 
being  designedly  a  system  carefully  localised,  with  inde- 
pendent local  boards  allowed  a  considerable  measure  of  self- 
government,  it  is  held  that  old-age  relief  will  have  to  be  more 
fully  centralised  under  the  control  of  one  great  Government 
office  in  the  capital,  an  enormously  increased  number  of  local 
offices,  cut  down  in  size  and  importance,  and  deprived  of  the 
responsibility  and  independence  previously  deemed  necessary, 
being  employed  to  do  only  the  mechanical  work  of  collection 
and  distribution.  Five  years  ago  the  Government  resisted 
any  proposal  of  such  a  transformation  as  prejudicial  to  its 
system. 

The  changes  recently  brought  about  in  the  law  point 
strongly  in  the  direction  indicated.  The  two  principal  inno- 
vations are: — (1)  The  creation  of  the  1,000  or  so  local 
offices  referred  to,  in  which  claims  presented  are  in  future  to 
be  decided  upon  in  every  case  by  a  small  board  composed  of 
an  equal  number  of  employers  and  workmen,  presided  over  by 
a  permanent  salaried  official.  The  awards  made  by  such 
tribunals  are  likely  to  turn  out  considerably  more  liberal  than 
those  hitherto  made  by  the  provincial  boards,  administered 
mainly  by  officials,  since  the  unsalaried  officers  could  only 
rarely  be  brought  to  do  their  duty ;  and  it  will  be  scarcely 
possible  for  the  Central  Office  at  Berlin  to  exercise  sufficient 
control  over  this  truly  unwieldy  mass  of  business.  02)  The 
other  important  change  made  is  the  creation  of  a  large 
'  common  fund,'  which  is  to  absorb  as  from  January  1,  1900, 
two-fifths  of  the  capital  (£37,344,000)  already  accumu- 
lated in  the  provincial  funds,  and  the  same  proportion  of 
their  annual  receipts,  and  defray  charges  in  something  like 
the  same  proportion.  It  is  '  liable  to  be  increased,'  should 
occasion  so  require ;  and  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  it  will 


GERMANY  209 

be.  And  once  all  money  is  poured  into  one  Government 
office  the  advantages  of  a  simpler  method  of  collection,  viz., 
by  taxes,  are  likely  to  become  rather  strongly  apparent.  This 
change  is  officially  asserted  to  be  imperatively  called  for  by 
the  present  inequality  in  the  incidence  of  payments  for 
pensions,  which  appear  to  press  far  more  heavily  upon  agri- 
cultural than  upon  industrial  districts.  Statistics  collected 
indeed  go  to  show  that  among  an  agricultural  population 
cases  of  pensionable  old  age  are  nearly  four  times  as  frequent, 
calculated  for  the  same  population,  as  among  an  industrial. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  is  urged  that  sick  and  accident  insur- 
ance, pressing  with  far  more  weight  upon  industrial  districts 
than  upon  agricultural,  at  the  very  least  fully  restore  the 
balance.  And,  in  addition,  it  is  pointed  out  from  official 
returns  that  in  the  province  whose  Old-Age  Pensions  furnish 
the  main  evidence  for  the  above  argument,  that  is,  East 
Prussia,  actually  as  many  as  109  pensions  are  granted  per 
1,000  population,  as  compared  with  only  from  68  to  72  per 
1,000  in  other  agricultural  provinces  similarly  situated. 

From  this  it  is  taken  to  appear  that  the  disposition  in 
favour  of  granting  pensions  in  a  more  free-handed  way — 
which  of  course  the  working  classes  do  their  best  to  support 
and  further  to  stimulate — is  making  way  perceptibly  among 
the  officers  administering  the  law.  The  Government  still 
protests  that  it  adheres  resolutely  to  the  old  principle  of 
limiting  relief  and  insisting  upon  thrift.  However,  it  has 
become  abundantly  evident  that  if,  in  the  teeth  of  the  growing 
demands  made  in  favour  of  enlarging  the  sphere,  withdrawing 
all  conditions  and  charging  the  community  with  the  whole  of 
the  cost,  it  is  to  maintain  its  position,  it  will  have  to  sustain 
a  tough  fight.  As  a  matter  of  fact  it  finds  the  task  which  it 
light-heartedly  set  itself  ten  years  ago  grown  beyond  anything 
that  it  anticipated.  Nevertheless,  having  once  put  its  hand 
to  the  plough,  it  cannot  draw  back.  To  its  sorrow  it  discovers 
that  by  pleading  for  a  novel  right  on  behalf  of  a  large  and 
influential  class  it  has  itself  planed  the  way  for  the  advance- 

p 


210  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

merit  of  demands  which  it  holds  in  abhorrence,  and  weakened 
its  defences  against  the  very  foe  whom  it  is  most  anxious  to 
resist.  And  who  can  tell  if  against  the  heavy  odds  that  it  is 
confronted  with,  when  the  sole  barrier  remaining  against 
wholesale  pensions  practically  has  come  to  be  that  of  financial 
considerations,  in  respect  of  which,  after  all,  Parliament  (in 
which  working-class  influences  are  strong)  must  be  the  final 
judge,  it  will  in  its  well-meant  struggle  for  the  maintenance 
of  '  endowment  of  thrift  '  be  able  to  hold  its  own  ? 

H.  W.  W. 


•211 


XIX 
DENMAEK 

Tn  Denmark  the  provision  is  made  for  Old-Age  Pensions  or 
allowances  by  extending  the  system  of  poor  relief.  The  claim 
for  poor  relief  is  thus  stated  : l 

The  public  authority  is  required  to  help  anyone,  so  long 
and  in  so  far  as  he  is  unable  to  provide  what  is  necessary  for 
his  own  maintenance  and  for  that  of  his  dependents,  or  in  case 
of  illness  for  medical  relief  and  care. 

This  provision  is  made  subject  to  the  condition  that 
parents  contribute  to  the  support  of  their  children  up  to  the 
age  of  eighteen,  if  they  are  able  to  do  so  ;  but  there  is,  by 
statute,  no  reciprocal  obligation  that  children,  if  able  to  do  so, 
should  support  their  parents. 

There  are  also  authorised  funds  for  medical  relief  and 
allowances  during  sickness,  maintained  by  the  subscriptions 
of  members  and  subventions  from  the  State  and  from  the 
Communes.  From  these  assistance  is  afforded  for  a  time, 
but,  if  further  relief  is  required,  application  has  to  be  made 
to  the  poor  authorities.2 

The  claim  for  assistance  in  old  age  hardly  differs  from  the 
claim  to  poor  relief— completion  of  the  sixtieth  year  of  life 
and  inability  to  provide  what  is  necessary  for  maintenance 
for  oneself  and  for  such  dependents  as  have  a  claim  to  entire 
support  at  one's  hands,  or  in  case  of  sickness  inability  to 
provide  medical  relief  and  care.     To  this  primary  condition 

1  Danisches  Armenrecht,  Von.  A.  D.  Tourbie,  1892,  p.  87. 
'-'  Danisches  Armenrecht,  p.  132. 


212 


OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 


are  added  others — to  be  a  Danish  subject  ;  not  to  have  been 
found  guilty  of  dishonourable  practices  by  judicial  sentence  ; 
not  to  have  squandered  one's  means  ;  to  have  resided  in  the 
country  during  the  ten  years  preceding  an  application  for 
pension  relief,  and  not  to  have  received  poor  relief  or  been 
convicted  of  vagrancy  during  that  period.  The  relief  must  be 
sufficient  for  maintenance  or  for  medical  aid.  The  charge  for 
it  falls  on  the  communal  authorities  plus  an  advance  from  the 
Exchequer  (Staatskasse),  which  was  not  to  exceed  at  first  one 
and  subsequently,  in  1895-96,  two  million  kronen.  At  the 
present  rate,  however,  the  grant  from  the  Exchequer  amounts 
to  2,427,432  kronen.  Claims  are  submitted  in  Copenhagen 
to  the  magistracy,  elsewhere  to  the  communal  authority.1 

The  average  allowance  per  head  (1899)  in  Copenhagen 
was  131*29  kronen  (£7.  5s.),  and  the  average  subvention 
per  case  161-76  kronen  (£8.  18s.  7'/.).  For  the  whole  country, 
including  Copenhagen,  the  corresponding  figures  are  85 '32 
kronen  (£4.  14s.  2rf.),  and  118-03  kronen  (£6.  10s.  3d.). 

The  population  of  Denmark  in  1890  was  2,172,380. 

The  recipients  of  old-age  assistance  for  the  last  seven  years 
for  which  figures  are  available  have  been  as  follows  2 :— 


Heads  of  Families 
and  Single  Persons 

Dependents 

1892 

30,959 

12,867 

1893 

32,726 

13,652 

1896 

37,975 

14,955 

1897 

39,048 

15,240 

L898 

40,759 

15,897 

1899 

41,804 

15,895 

This  represents  about  18  per  cent,  of  the  population  over 

1  Law  of  April  9,  1891.     Armenrecht,  p.  136,  &c. 

-  Table  LXVIIL,  Statist  isle  Aarbog.,  1900  and  1901.  The  population 
by  the  last  census,  1901,  was  2,449,540.  The  return  of  population 
according  to  ages  has  not  yet  been  issued.  The  population  over  sixty 
years  of  age  in  1891  was  227,762. 


DENMARK  213 

sixty  years  of  age,  and  an  increase  of  10  per  cent,  in  the  last 
four  years  for  which  returns  are  forthcoming. 

The  State  grant  has  increased  from  1,014,278  kronen  in 
1892  to  2,275,678  in  1898,  and  2,427,432  in  1899  ;  the  grants 
of  the  Communes  from  1,543,683  to  2,275,662  in  1898,  and 
2,424,314  in  1899.  The  maximum  State  grant  according  to 
the  Act  has  thus  been  considerably  exceeded ;  the  local  grants 
have  increased  56  per  cent,  since  1892. 

Accompanying  these  changes  are  others  consistent  with 
them.  In  the  sick  funds  authorised  by  the  State  the  indigent 
claimants  for  relief !  were — in 

1893 115,861 

1900 301,569 

Monetary  help  in  illness  has  increased  from  439,312  to 
1,175,172  kronen. 

In  the  Dantzig  Workmen's  Bank,  Copenhagen,  before 
the  Poor  Belief  Act  of  1891,  the  annuities  purchased  by 
working  men  increased  year  by  year,  being  424  in  1892  for 
adults,  466  for  children.  But  eight  years  later,  in  1900,  the 
former  numbered  only  110,  and  the  latter  had  not  increased. 
Their  number  remained  practically  the  same — 460. 

To  judge  from  these  symptoms,  Denmark  is  on  the  high 
road  to  general  pauperism,  for  these  figures,  it  must  be 
remembered,  refer  to  prosperous  years. 

And  a  Danish  correspondent  thus  sums  up  the  position : — 
'  The  principle  of  the  law — that  every  Danish  citizen  who 
when  he  reaches  his  sixtieth  year  is  unable  to  work  and  has 
no  means  has  the  right  of  maintenance  at  the  expense  of 
the  State  and  of  the  Commune,  without  suffering  the  draw- 
backs which  attach  to  the  receipt  of  poor  relief — (and  the 
only  condition  is  not  to  have  been  convicted  in  the  past  five 
years,  and  not  have  received  poor  relief  in  the  last  ten  years) 

1  Table  LXX.,  1901. 


214  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

— this  principle  in  my  opinion  is  immoral  and  prejudicial  to 
the  interests  of  Society. 

'  If  the  man  has  some  means  before  applying  for  a  pension 
he  must  get  rid  of  them.  If  he  has  any  current  income,  the 
charge  on  the  public  funds  is  reduced  proportionally,  so  he 
is  in  no  better  position  on  that  account.  For  working  men 
who  have  no  chance  of  saving  £150  or  £200  at  least,  it  pays 
better  not  to  economise,  if  they  do  not  wish  to  economise  to 
the  profit  of  the  State  and  of  the  Communes. 

'  It  is  no  advantage  to  one's  aged  parents  to  support 
them;  it  pays  better  to  drive  them  from  "home"  and  to 
leave  the  public  authorities  to  take  care  of  them.  If  some 
trouble  which  threatens  their  ability  to  work  befalls  a  husband 
or  a  wife  it  pays  them  better  to  be  divorced,  so  as  to  prevent 
the  application  for  public  relief  made  on  the  part  of  one  of 
them  prejudicing  the  future  claim  of  the  other  for  an  old-age 
allowance.  The  people  are  becoming  more  and  more  clever 
in  getting  rid  of  their  property,  as  they  approach  their 
sixtieth  year,  and  evading  the  requirements  of  the  law,  which 
prohibits  all  such  voluntary  impoverishment.  And  the 
charge  on  the  public  funds  is  always  increasing ;  one  notices 
in  those  who  receive  assistance  a  latent  discontent  at  the 
insufficiency  of  the  relief  that  is  given  them.  We  are  indeed 
between  Scylla  and  Charybdis.  We  can  never  find  a  solution 
so  long  as  we  do  not  support  the  principle  of  helping  those 
who  have  tried  to  provide  for  themselves  from  their  own 
resources.  The  negative  requirement — not  to  have  been  a 
charge  on  the  Poor  Law  for  a  short  period — is  not  enough.' 

C.  S.  L. 


215 


XX 
BELGIUM 

The  Belgian  system  differs  in  principle  from  that  of  Germany 
and  that  of  Denmark.  It  is  not  well  known,  and  therefore  a 
fuller  account  of  it  may  be  of  interest.  It  is  voluntary,  and 
consists  of  an  endowment  or  premium  on  savings.  It  is,  in 
fact,  a  development  and  extension  of  State  annuities. 

In  1865  a  State  Annuity  Fund  was  established  (Caisse 
Generale  de  retraite  sous  la  garantie  de  l'etat).  By  its  regu- 
lations any  person  eighteen  years  of  age  could  purchase  an 
annuity.  The  contributions  might  be  returnable  or  non- 
returnable.  If  returnable  on  the  death  of  the  insurer  they 
were  returned  to  his  representatives,  less  3  per  cent.  The 
maximum  deferred  annuity  was  1,200  francs,  or  £48. 

In  1801  a  sum  was  allowed  on  the  Government  estimates 
for  bounties  (primes  d' encouragement)  payable  to  recognised 
Mutual  Aid  Societies  (Societes  Mutualistes  reconnues  par  le 
Gouvernement) ;  and  since  1895  these  subsidies  have  been 
largely  increased,  from  20,000  (£400)  to  600,000  francs 
(£24,000)  in  1900. 

By  the  Old- Age  Pension  Law  of  1900,  instead  of  an 
annual  grant  towards  the  encouragement  of  State  annuities, 
a  separate  fund  of  12  million  francs  (£480,000)  was  created 
as  approximately  sufficient,  and  the  following  scheme  was 
developed,  in  part  the  continuation  and  expansion,  in  part 
the  modification,  of  plans  already  in  force. 

(1)  On  each  franc  paid  in,  up  to  15  francs,  the  State 
gives  a  premium  of  60  centimes. 


216  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

Thus  to  each  franc  (9|d.)  put  by  an  addition  of  60  cen- 
times (5|r?.)  is  made,  and  a  person  who  puts  by  15  francs 
(lis.  lOd.)  will  at  the  end  of  the  year  be  the  possessor  of 
24  francs  '  (19s.)-  A  very  great  inducement — an  addition  of 
60  per  cent,  to  his  savings— is  thus  placed  before  an  insurer,  to 
make  him  secure  for  himself  at  least  24  francs  within  the  year. 

(2)  Further,  it  is  immaterial  whether  these  15  francs  are 
actually  paid  in  by  the  insurer  himself,  or  in  part  by  himself 
and  in  part  by  the  Mutual  Aid  Society  to  which  he  belongs, 
or  by  his  employer  or  by  others,  so  long  as  it  is  not  sup- 
plemented by  a  public  body,  as,  for  instance,  by  a  Bureau 
de  Bienfaisance. 

(3)  There  is  a  limit,  however,  to  the  amount  which  the 
insurer  can  pay  into  his  annuity  account.  As  we  have  seen, 
there  is  the  utmost  inducement  placed  before  him  to  pay  in 
at  least  15  francs.  Bat  he  cannot  pay  in  more  than  60  francs 
(£2.  7s.  6d.).  If,  therefore,  he  pays  into  the  bank  all  he  is 
entitled  to  pay  in,  he  will  find  himself  at  the  close  of  the  year 
in  possession  of  (60  +  9  francs)  69  francs  (£2.  14s.  9d.). 

(4)  But  there  is  a  yet  further  inducement,  which  has  for 
its  object  to  support  and  extend  the  work  of  the  Mutual  Aid 
Societies  as  agencies  for  the  provision  of  insurances.  On 
each  book  opened  through  the  intervention  of  such  a  society 
on  which  3  francs  (2s.  4|e7.)  has  been  paid  the  Government 
make  a  grant  of  2  francs,  or  Is.  Id.  There  is  thus  a  second 
premium  to  attract  a  person  to  begin  to  save  through  a 
Mutual  Aid  Society.  He  will  have,  as  above,  9  francs  added 
to  his  15  francs  ;  but  he  will  have  also  an  additional  3  francs, 
or  in  all  12  francs  (80  per  cent.)  added  to  his  15  francs  if 
he  has  joined  through  a  society,  and  at  the  end  of  the  year 
he  will  be  the  possessor  of  27  francs. 

(5)  The  insurer  may  contribute,  as  he  wishes,  towards  a 
returnable  or  a  non-returnable  annuity ;  but  the  Government 
gives  the  same  premium  on  both  forms  of  annuity — the 
premium  payable  on  a  non-returnable  annuity. 

1  That  is  15  francs  +  (60  x  15  centimes  or)  9  francs. 


BELGIUM  217 

(6)  The  pension  can  be  drawn  by  the  contributor  at  any 
age  between  fifty-five  and  sixty-five. 

(7)  If  the  insurer  cannot  continue  his  payments  owing  to 
illness  or  infirmity,  he  may  receive  such  lesser  pension  as  his 
contributions  up  to  date  would  provide. 

(8)  As  soon  as  the  insurer  has  on  his  book  a  sum  that 
will  produce  o60  francs  (£14.  5s.),  about  5s.  Qd.  a  week,  he  is 
entitled  to  his  pension. 

Thus,  if  we  suppose  the  insurer  to  have  been  induced  to 
put  by  15  francs  in  the  course  of  the  year,  he  will  have  at 
the  end  of  the  first  year  (15  +  9)  24  francs,  apart  from  the 
premium  on  the  book.  If  he  puts  by  the  same  amount  for 
fifteen  years  he  will  by  that  time  have  (24  x  15)  the  360  francs 
required.1  In  this  way  a  weekly  payment  of  about  28  cen- 
times (or  %%d.)  from  the  age  of  sixteen  will  give  him  an 
allowance  of  5s.  5d.  a  week  at  the  age  of  thirty-one ;  or 
beginning  at  forty-five  a  man  will  have  his  5s.  5d.  a  week  at 
sixty.  Or  the  insurer  may  pay  into  his  account  the  maximum 
allowable,  60  francs.  In  that  case  (60  +  9x5  =  o45)  he  will 
realise  his  pension  of  5s.  5d.  in  between  five  and  six  years. 

(9)  The  qualifications  of  an  insurer  or  depositor  are  thus 
defined  :  Depositors  must  be  persons  who  pay  direct  taxes,11 
including  licences  to  carry  on  a  trade  or  profession  (patentee 
comprises)  of  less  than  : — 

50  francs  (£2)  in  communes  of  less  than  10,000  inhabitants. 

60      „  (£2.  6s.  8d.)  10,000  to  25,000 

70      „  (£2.  15s.  5d.)  25,000  „  50,000 

80      „  (£3.  3s.  4fZ.)  50,000  upwards. 

Thus,  according  to  the  size  of  the  town,  all  are  eligible 

1  Of  that  pension  (860  francs)  the  State  will  have  provided  by  way 
of  bonus  36  per  cent.,  the  insurer  64.  With  this  the  distribution  of  the 
burthen  in  the  German  system  may  be  compared.  Taking  the  old-age 
and  the  infirmity  allowances  together,  the  employer  and  the  employed 
between  them  pay  64  per  cent.,  the  State  the  remainder. 

2  Contributions  personnelles,  contributions  foncieres  et  patcntes — 
personal  taxes,  land  taxes,  and  licences. 


218  OLD-AGE  PENSIONS 

except  those  who  pay  more  than  50  francs,  or  about  dd.  a 
week,  up  to  those  who  pay  80  francs,  or  about  Is.  I^d.  a  week, 
in  taxes.  This  in  Belgium  would  include  in  each  such  town 
'  all  the  working  class,  from  the  workmen  who  earn  the  most 
moderate  wage  (salaire  le  plus  modest e)  to  those  who  are  in 
good  circumstances  (do?it  les  ressources  sout  le  plus  elevees).x 

Other  general  conditions  are  :  (1)  to  be  a  Belgian  and  to 
reside  in  Belgium  ;  (2)  to  be  at  least  sixteen  years  of  age,  unless 
the  insurer  be  a  member  of  a  Mutual  Aid  Society  ;  (3)  to 
possess  a  State  Pension  book  (livret) ;  (4)  to  have  contributed 
during  the  preceding  financial  year  sums  entered  in  this  book. 

(10)  To  make  the  scheme  operative  at  once  for  the  elder 
generation,  to  those  above  forty  years  of  age  on  January  1, 
1900,  special  premiums  are  offered. 

Thus  they  are  entitled  to  the  premium  of  60  centimes 
on  each  franc  paid  by  them  up  to  24,  instead  of  15 
francs.  They  can  thus  accumulate  towards  their  pension 
38*40  francs  (or  £1.  10s.  Gd.)  in  the  year,  or  more  than  a 
third  more  than  the  normal  insurer,  and  can  obtain  their 
pension  in  about  nine  instead  of  fifteen  years. 

(11)  Again,  for  those  above  fifty-five  years  of  age  on 
January  1,  1901,  there  are  other  special  provisions. 

First,  all  who  are  sixty- five  years  of  age,  if  they  are 
workmen,-  whether  in  work  or  past  work,  and  reside  in 
Belgium,  and  are  in  need,  are  entitled  to  an  allowance  of 
(35  francs  a  year  (£2.  lis.  5 id.),  or  about  Is.  a  week. 

Next,  all  fifty-five  years  of  age  on  the  appointed  day,  on 
arriving  at  the  age  of  sixty-five  have  similar  benefits,  but  on 
the  understanding  that  those  who  are  under  fifty-eight  on 
that  day  will  be  excluded  unless  during  three  years  they  have 
paid  at  least  3  francs  a  year  and  in  all  contributed  18  francs.3 

1  P.  lo.     Les  Pensions    de    Vieillesse.' — M.  Theate.     Brants  et  Cie., 
Brussels.    1901. 

2  This  includes  domestic  servants. 

3  See  Les  Pensions  de  Vieillesse  :  Cominentaire   de  la  loi  du  10  Mai 
1900  par  M.  Theate.     Ch.  Brants  et  Cie.,  Bruxelles,  1901.      Also  Projet 


BELGIUM 


219 


Some  figures  taken  from  the  Annuaire  Statistique  (1901) 
of  Belgium  throw  light  on  the  results  of  the  method  of  putting 
a  bounty  on  contributions.1 


State  Pension  Fund. 


— 

New  Savings 
Books  (livrets) 

Old  Livrets 

Contribution* 
non-returnable 

Contributions 
returnable 

Tensions  Paid 

Francs 

Francs 

Francs 

1871-1880 

2,117 

13,332 

890,394 

500,328 

656,505 

1880-1890 

4,605- 

37,159 

3,232,137 

690,391 

1,635,184 

1898 

43,873 

288,156 

2,234,113 

1,271,588 

1,144,828 

1899 

66,712 

560,388 

2,662,192 

1,936,445 

1,270,233 

The  total  deposil 

s  (fonds 

places)  star 

id  thus  :  — 

Francs. 

1880    . 

. 

. 

.       2,720,418 

1890     . 

. 

. 

.       7,973,742 

1898    . 

. 

. 

.     21,809,679 

18 

99    . 

. 

. 

.     25,746,028 

The  number  of  recognised  Mutual  Aid  Societies  has  in- 
creased from  369  in  1890  to  869  in  1896.3 

The  immense  advance  in  this  department  is  accompanied 
by  a  similar  advance  in  the  General  Savings  Bank  depart- 
ment of  the  State.  The  balance  on  deposits  (solde  dts  depots), 
which  were  in  1890  325,415,412  francs,  in  1899  amounted 
to  608,440,774.  And  Savings  Bank  accounts  {lie rets),  which 
were  kept  in  1890  on  behalf  of  11*95  per  cent,  of  the  hi- 
de loi  concernant  les  pensions  de  vieillesse  :  Chambre  des  Representants, 
i)0  Avril,  1900  (No.  162)  ;  and  Chambre  des  llepresentants — Documents. 
Session  1809-1900.  Seance  du  11  Avril,  1900.  1'rojet  de  loi  concernant 
les  pensions  de  vieillesse,  p.  221,  &c. 

1  Annua/i/re,  pp.  54,  176. 

2  Excluding  1,852  books  taken  out  by  men  serving  in  the  Militia  under 
a  law  of  1870. 

3  Anniiaire,  p.  xxxi. 


220  OLD-AGE  PENSIONS 

habitants,  were  kept  in  1899  on  behalf  of  24'35,  or  nearly  a 
fourth  of  the  population.  The  School  Savings  Banks  also 
showed  a  large  increase.  In  1899,  out  of  a  school  population 
of  1,085,177,  about  a  third — 350,182 — had  savings  accounts 
or  put  by  savings. 

In  August  1901,  when  under  the  Old- Age  Pension 
Law  of  1900  the  first  payments  were  due  on  the  pen- 
sions of  65  francs,  or  a  shilling  a  week,  allotted  to  persons 
over  sixty-five  years  of  age,  175,000  persons  registered 
themselves  as  recipients,1  or  45  per  cent,  of  the  population 
of  that  age.  With  this  may  be  contrasted  the  pauperism 
of  19*5  per  cent,  of  persons  over  sixty-five  in  England 
and  Wales  ;  2  for  the  contrast  is  fair,  since  in  both  cases 
relief  is  given  by  the  State — in  the  one  instance  as  poor 
relief  received  as  a  right  by  the  destitute,  in  the  other  as 
an  allowance  received  by  right  as  pension  relief.  The 
number  of  claimants  has,  it  is  stated,  very  greatly  exceeded 
the  estimates  even  of  those  who  opposed  the  Belgian  Pension 
Law.  In  the  lleport  of  the  "  Section  Centrale "  of  the 
House  of  Representatives  (p.  20)  upon  the  proposed  law,  a 
return  was  published  showing  that  of  the  class  of  working 
men  and  domestic  servants,  which  numbered  1,625,000,  only 
149,000  were  sixty-five  years  of  age  and  upwards.  If  this  be 
so,  the  fact  that  175,000  persons  have  registered  themselves 
as  recipients  would  seem  to  show  that  a  larger  and  in  part 
a  different  class  are  taking  advantage  of  the  offer  of  the 
Government. 

C.  S.  L. 


P.S. — Since  the  above  was  written,  it  has  been  reported  (Times, 
October  25,  1902)  that  the  provision  for  indigent  workmen  who  have 
attained  the  age  of  sixty-five  has,  after  a  year's  trial,  proved  a  source 

1  Times,  August  6,  1901. 

2  Report  Royal  Coiimiission  Aged  Poor,  1895,  p.  x 


BELGIUM  221 

of  some  embarrassment  to  the  Government.  The  demands  for  the 
pension  have  increased  during  the  twelvemonth  by  over  30,000, 
thus  quite  upsetting  the  calculations  on  which  the  Minister  of 
Finance  based  his  estimate  for  providing  the  necessary  funds. 
An  inquiry  has  revealed  the  fact  that  heads  of  local  committees, 
not  excluding  burgomasters  in  various  communes,  have  admitted 
a  vast  number  of  applicants  who  are  in  no  sense  entitled  to  the 
bounty.  The  Act  limits  the  pensions  to  bond-fide  labourers ;  the 
lists  disclose  a  large  proportion  of  retired  tradesmen,  small  property 
owners,  and  others  of  a  similar  class. 

C.  S.  L. 


222  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 


XXI 

AUSTKALASIA 

The  pension  schemes  which  are  in  force  in  New  Zealand, 
New  South  Wales,  and  Victoria  are  all  schemes  for  the 
supplementation  of  income  up  to  a  standard  which  is  taken 
to  represent  the  actual  pecuniary  requirements  of  old  age.1 
It  is  taken  for  granted,  for  instance,  that  people  sixty-five 
years  of  age  who  have  £52  a  year  have  enough,  and  that  all 
who  have  less  are  in  comparative  need  and  should  have  their 
income  proportionately  supplemented ;  and  that  if  an  old 
person  has  no  income,  he  should  have  a  minimum  allow- 
ance of  £18  a  year  or  30s.  a  month. 

The  necessary  qualifications  are  :  to  be  sixty-five  years  of 
age  ;  to  have  resided  in  the  Colony  twenty-five  years  (in  the 
case  of  Victoria  twenty  years) ;  not  to  have  been  imprisoned 
(under  conditions  set  forth  in  the  New  Zealand  and  New 
South  Wales  Acts  in  two  several  clauses)  within  the  previous 
twelve  or  the  previous  fifteen  years  ;  to  be  of  good  moral 
character,  and  for  the  five  years  previous  to  have  led  a  sober 

1  ('/".Acts  (1)  New  Zealand:  'An  Act  to  provide  for  Old- Age  Pensions,' 
November  1,  1898  ;  62  Vict.,  1898,  No.  14.  (2)  New  South  Wales :  '  An 
Act  to  provide  for  Old- Age  Pensions  ; '  64  Vict.,  1900,  No.  74.  (3)  Vic- 
toria :  '  An  Act  to  provide  for  the  Payment  of  Old-Age  Pensions,'  Decem- 
ber 27,  1900 ;  64  Vict.,  No.  1,706.  Also,  '  An  Act  to  provide  for  the 
Registration  of  Claims  for  Old-Age  Pensions,'  December  27,  1900 ; 
64  Vict.,  No.  1,712 ;  and  '  Regulations  under  Various  Acts  of  Parlia- 
ment,' extracted  from  the  Government  Gazette,  1901,  Nos.  1,  3,  and  12. 
Also  an  Amending  Act  passed  in  October  1901. 


AUSTRALASIA  223 

and  reputable  life;  not  to  have  an  income  of  more  than  lT>-2 
a  year  ;  not  to  have  accumulated  property  exceeding  £270  j1 
not  to  have  directly  or  indirectly  deprived  oneself  of  property  or 
income  in  order  to  qualify  for  a  pension  ;  and  to  have  been 
granted  a  pension  certificate. 

The  pension  in  New  Zealand  is  £18  a  year — about 
6s.  10^/.  a  week — less  £1  for  every  complete  £1  of  income 
above  £84,  and  £1  for  every  complete  £15  of  net  capital  value 
of  any  accumulated  property. 

In  New  South  Wales  the  pension  is  £26,  or  10s.  a  week, 
subject  to  deductions  similar  to  those  in  the  case  of  New 
Zealand — £1  for  every  complete  £1  of  income  above- £26,  and 
£1  for  every  complete  £15  of  the  net  capital  of  accumulated 
property.  Hence,  come  what  may,  a  man  of  sixty-five  in 
New  Zealand  will  have  at  least  £18,  and  in  New  South  Wales 
£26,  and  will  be  helped  by  the  State  so  long  as  his  income  is 
not  more  than  £52. 

In  Victoria  the  pension  was  at  first  10s.  a  week,  or  such  a 
sum  as  with  the  net  income  of  the  claimant  would  make  a 
total  of  10s.  '  Income '  included  all  the  claimant's  net 
income  from  all  sources,  except  any  pension  payable  under 
the  Old- Age  Pension  Act  of  1900,  or  any  payment  by  way  of 
sick  allowance  or  funeral  benefit  from  any  registered  friendly 
society  or  similar  institution.  (This  exception  holds  good  in 
all  the  Colonial  schemes.)  Accumulated  capital  which  does 
not  return  an  income  is  taken  at  its  net  capital  value,  less 
all  charges  and  incumbrances ;  and  for  every  £10  of  this 
value  over  £50,  Cul.  is  deducted  from  the  weekly  pension. 
Furniture  and  personal  effects  to  the  extent  of  £25  are 
excluded  from  the  computation. 

By  the  Amending  Act  of  October  1901  pensions  of  7s.  a 
week  were  substituted  for  pensions  of  1 0s.  ;  and  already  in 
April  of  that  year  a  defensive  regulation  had  been  adopted 
which  is  significant : — 

'  If  an  applicant  be  possessed  of  over  £10  in  cash,  the 
New  South  Wales  allows  a  larger  margin — i.390  and  upwards. 


224  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

granting  of  a  pension  shall  be  deferred  so  long  as  the  amount 
over  that  sum  -will  keep  him,  estimating  the  cost  of  living  at 
10s.  a  week.' 

In  New  Zealand,  and  now  in  Victoria,  the  claims  are 
settled  by  stipendiary  magistrates  in  open  court ;  in  New 
South  Wales  by  special  officers — a  Central  Board,  with  a 
Kegistrar  and  Deputy  Eegistrars. 

In  New  South  Wales  and  Victoria  there  are  other  modifi- 
cations also.  In  the  former  Colony  the  pension  may  be 
granted  at  the  age  of  sixty  or  sixty-five  if  it  is  proved  to  the 
satisfaction  of  the  Board  that  the  claimant  is  '  unable  from 
physical  unfitness  to  earn  his  own  living,'  and  would  other- 
wise be  eligible  for  a  pension. 

In  Victoria  the  rule  is  still  more  lenient.  The  pension 
may  be  paid  to  any  person  who  has  attained  the  age  of  sixty- 
five,  '  or  who  is  permanently  disabled,  or  who  is  in  permanent 
ill-health,  caused  in  either  case  by  having  been  engaged  in 
mining  or  any  unhealthy  or  hazardous  occupation.' 

The  New  Zealand  Act  dates  from  1898 ;  those  of  New 
South  Wales  and  Victoria  from  1900.  The  process  of  accom- 
modation to  popular  demand  is  evident.  The  allowance  in 
the  later  Acts  is  larger.  In  one  the  age  is  lowered  if  the 
claimant  suffers  from  physical  infirmity  ;  in  the  other  there 
is,  apart  from  age,  a  claim  on  the  ground  of  permanent 
disablement. 

The  significance  of  these  laws  can  only  be  understood  in 
their  relation  to  the  scheme  for  a  reconstruction  of  society 
on  democratic  lines,  which  is  the  accepted  political  programme 
of  the  majority  of  the  electors  in  some  Colonies.  The  object 
of  this  reconstruction  is  to  place  the  working  classes  in  a 
position  of  permanent  affluence  and,  so  far,  to  eliminate 
poverty.  Taxation  is  borne  almost  wholly  by  the  holders  of 
property,  except  in  so  far  as  it  is  paid  indirectl}7  as  customs. 
There  is  an  accepted  minimum  wage,  an  eight  hours'  day's 
work,  a    high    protective    tariff    both  of  goods  and  labour, 


AUSTRALASIA  225 

and  a  State  control  of  production  and  manufacture,  not 
only  by  Factory  Acts  (which  have,  it  ia  said,  displaced  old 
workers,  and  thus  given  them  an  additional  claim  on  the 
State),  but  also  by  the  compulsory  submission  of  all  labour 
disputes  to  magisterial  arbitration.  The  complement  of 
these  measures  is  a  State  allowance  in  old  age,  the  substitute 
for  a  regulated  wage  when  the  wage- earning  period  of  life  has 
ceased.  This  programme  is  not  yet  carried  out  in  its  com- 
pleteness. New  South  Wales  has  not  yet  a  protective  tariff 
on  goods.1  Victoria  has  not  an  Act  for  the  enforced  arbitra- 
tion of  trade  disputes.  But  in  general  the  principle  is 
accepted  that,  irrespective  of  economic  demand,  the  State 
has  to  provide,  directly  or  indirectly,  the  means  of  living 
to  all  those  who  have  no  property  or  possess  but  a  com- 
paratively small  amount.  The  theory  that  economic  demand 
tends  to  create  competence  through  competition  is  set  aside 
for  the  theory  that,  so  far  as  the  working  classes  are  con- 
cerned, the  pressure  of  this  demand  should  be  removed  by 
legislative  measures  as  well  as  by  the  provision  of  relief  by 
work  to  those  who  are  unemployed,  and  of  relief  by  pension 
to  those  who  have  passed  the  wage-earning  period  of  life. 
On  this  theory,  competence  and  social  well-being  will  result 
in  part  from  the  regulation,  in  part  from  the  elimination, 
of  competition,  plus  State  maintenance. 

Accordingly,  the  responsibility  of  the  individual  to  main- 
tain himself  throughout  life  is  transferred  in  great  measure 
to  the  State.  And  so  long  as  the  people  retain  their  energy 
and  resist  the  temptations  of  State  relief,  and  so  long  as  there 
is  a  margin  for  taxation  in  the  resources  of  the  holders  of 
property,  the  State  may  bear  this  pressure.  But  if  this 
margin  be  exceeded,  the  community  may  be  plunged  in  a 
general  bankruptcy,  aggravated  by  growing  individual  incom- 
petence and  lessened  energy.  From  this  point  of  view  the 
history  of  the  question  of  Old-Age  Pensions  in  Victoria  is 

1  Since  the  introduction  of  the  Commonwealth  Tariff  New  South 
Wales  no  longer  remains  a  Free  Trade  colony. 

Q 


226  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

instructive.  And  in  Australia,  it  must  be  remembered,  the 
difficulties  of  the  community  are  greatly  increased  by  fre- 
quent and  long-continued  droughts,  and  by  the  constant 
movement  of  population  from  the  country  districts  to  the 
larger  towns,  exceeding  even  that  which  prevails  in  Europe. 

In  Victoria,  at  the  very  time  that  the  Act  was  being  put 
in  operation,  there  were  deputations  to  the  Government  for 
additional  work  for  the  unemployed.  A  wage  of  7s.  a  day 
was  claimed.  There  was  at  the  time  a  large  demand  for 
labour,  but  such  a  wage  was  on  economic  grounds  excessive. 
Land  accordingly  lay  idle,  and  hop  plantations,  for  instance, 
were  thrown  out  of  cultivation.1  All  the  while  settlers  might 
be  provided  with  land  on  most  accommodating  Government 
terms ;  there  was  a  Labour  Colony,  which  was  run  at  a 
heavy  loss,  and  which  was  condemned  as  managed  '  most 
extravagantly ; '  and  the  Government  were  providing  relief 
employment  at  from  4s.  to  8s.  a  day.  There  was  also  work 
on  the  roads,  of  which,  at  one  centre,  a  correspondent  of  the 
Argus  writes  that  it  was  the  dumping-ground  of  all  who 
wished  to  leave  Melbourne,  and,  '  as  long  as  they  called 
themselves  Melbourne  unemployed,  they  were  entitled  to  7s. 
a  day  for  seven  or  eight  hours'  easy  work.'  Meanwhile,  also, 
the  Premier,  as  if  unconsciously  to  prove  the  economic  fallacy 
of  the  whole  position,  in  answering  a  deputation  pleaded 
'  that  he  was  doing  his  best  to  find  work  for  the  genuine 
unemployed/  and  that  he  would  start  'the  Mildura  line,' 
'  light  work '  in  the  Forest  area,  and  a  new  Central  Station ; 
but  'it  was,'  he  added,  'just  a  question  of  what  moneys  are 
available.' 

At  the  same  time  the  check  which  a  protective  tariff 
imposes  on  importation  was  acting  with  full  force.  Of 
every  £1  expended  in  many  common  necessaries  33  per  cent., 
it  was  calculated,  went  in  duties.2 

The  population  of  Victoria  in  1897  was  1,176,248,  and  of 
1  Melbourne  Argus,  March  28,  1901,  &c.       -  Argtis,  March  28,  1901. 


AUSTRALASIA  227 

those  above  sixty-five  years  of  age  42,602. l  When  the 
Pensions  Bill  was  introduced  the  expenditure  on  pensions 
was  estimated  at  £150,000.  By  June  1901  the  charge  had 
risen  to  £364,000.  In  September  a  Bill  was  passed  to 
authorise  additional  expenditure  to  the  extent  of  £200,000  ; 
and  it  was  then  pointed  out  that  if  the  proportion  of 
claimants  to  the  aged  population  was  the  same  as  it  had  been 
in  New  Zealand,  an  expenditure  of  £500,000  might  be  antici- 
pated. This  would  amount  to  rather  more  than  a  twelfth  of 
the  total  income  of  the  Colony.  The  revenue  had  exceeded 
the  estimates  of  the  Government  by  £605,000,  but  there  was 
a  deficit  of  £22,900,  and  this  was  due  to  the  excessive  cost  of 
the  pensions.  As  a  means  of  meeting  the  financial  difficulty 
it  was  at  once  suggested  that  incomes  of  £150  to  £200 
should  no  longer  be  exempted  from  taxation.  Had  this 
course  been  adopted,  these  incomes  would  have  been  taxed 
practically  after  the  manner  of  a  poor  rate,  and,  mutatis 
mutandis,  the  argument  so  often  used  in  England  would 
apply — namely,  that  it  is  to  the  advantage  of  the  independent 
poor  who  pay  rates,  quite  as  much  as  of  the  wealthier 
members  of  the  community,  that  public  relief,  whatever  the 
name  under  which  it  is  disguised,  should  be  administered  on 
principles  that  lead  to  the  reduction  of  chronic  dependence 
and  pauperism.  The  Treasurer  of  the  Colony  '  now  recog- 
nised that  there  were  limits  to  the  call  upon  the  ratepayers.' 
'  Unless  something  were  done,  the  State  would  soon  be  stag- 
gering under  a  load  which  would  be  more  than  the  revenue 
could  sustain.'  Economic  causes  had,  in  fact,  made  them- 
selves felt  in  spite  of  the  social  theory  that  ignored  them  ; 
and  in  October,  by  a  majority  of  one  vote,  the  pension  was 
reduced  from  10s.  to  7s.  a  week,  on  the  ground  that  thus  a 
saving  of  £44,500  a  year  might  be  made. 

In  September   1901   the  pensions  up  to  date  numbered 

1  Estimated  (Argus,  September  17)  at  56,000.  The  last  Census 
Age  Returns,  those  for  1901,  are  not  yet  available  ;  the  population  over 
sixty-five  would,  no  doubt,  be  rather  larger  now. 

u2 


223  OLD-AGE  PENSIONS 

17,351 ;  less  deaths,  640  ;  '  cancelled,'  343  ;  and  '  resigned,'  9. 
This  amounts  to  38  per  cent,  of  the  number  stated  to  be 
sixty-five  years  of  age  and  upwards  (as  against  19  per  cent, 
in  England  and  Wales),  proving  clearly  how  ruinous  this 
method  of  relief  may  speedily  become.  If  the  proportion  of 
old-age  pensioners  to  old-age  population  were  as  large  in 
Victoria  as  it  is  in  New  Zealand,  the  State  with  so  small  a 
balance  to  its  credit  would  run  very  great  risk  of  bankruptcy. 

Other  points  also  may  be  noted. 

Many  would-be  pensioners  attempted  to  defraud  the  State, 
and  many  apparently  succeeded  in  doing  so.  Mr.  Peacock, 
the  Treasurer  to  the  Colony,  said  '  he  was  sorry  that  in  his 
native  land  were  -so  many  who  were  desirous  of  palming  off 
their  responsibilities  on  to  the  State  ;  and  it  would  be  a  bad 
thing  for  Victoria  if  we  encouraged  in  any  respect  this 
shirking  of  the  responsibility  that  rested  on  the  shoulders 
of  sons  and  daughters.  Leading  citizens  and  public  servants 
had  taken  full  advantage  of  the  Act ;  and  he  had  felt  really 
ashamed  of  his  fellow-citizens  in  this  respect.1  The  Govern- 
ment intended  to  send  every  one  of  the  cases  for  rehearing. 
They  should  all  be  investigated  in  open  court.'  And  as  a 
step  towards  the  better  preservation  of  family  responsibilities, 
by  the  Amending  Act  it  was  enacted  that  pensions  should 
not  be  granted  when  the  relatives  were  able  to  pay  a  total 
sum  of  Is.  a  iveek  for  the  claimant's  support. 

The  evidence  of  age  must  frequently  be  very  insufficient. 
The  rule  of  Court 2  '  in  investigating  any  pension  claim  '  is 
'  that  the  stipendiary  magistrate  should  not  be  bound  by  the 
strict  rules  of  evidence,  but  should  investigate  and  determine 
the  matter  by  such  means  and  in  such  manner  as  in  equity 
and  good  conscience  he  thinks  fit.'  How  this  provision  may 
work  some  cases  suggest.  Thus  a  woman,  when  she  married, 
gave  her  age  as  forty-seven  instead  of  fifty-three.     Accord- 

1  Argus,  March  28  and  August  28. 

2  Cf.  New  Zealand  Act,  §  24,  and  the  similar  clauses. 


AUSTRALASIA  229 

ingly,  when  she  applied  for  a  pension  she  altered  her  marriage 
certificate  to  fifty-three.  The  police  magistrate  said  that  it 
was  '  evident  from  her  appearance  that  the  woman  was  sixty- 
five,  if  not  more  ' — but  as  the  evidence  of  the  marriage 
certificate  was  against  her,  she  had  fourteen  days'  imprison- 
ment.1 Often  the  evidence  of  '  appearance  '  judged  of  '  in 
equity  and  good  conscience '  must  on  the  all-important 
question  of  age  be  a  very  poor  substitute  for  definite  proof  of 
age.  Why  should  not  the  woman  have  given  her  correct  age 
at  her  marriage  and  a  false  age  when  she  wanted  a  pension  ? 
This,  apart  from  '  appearance,'  is  at  least  equally  probable. 

The  first  effect  of  the  pension  was  to  draw  into  the  outer 
world  many  people  who  were  being  cared  for  in  institutions. 
Sometimes  the  results  were  disastrous.  In  one  district  the 
investigators  reported  : 2  '  With  two  exceptions  the  huts  and 
houses  they  visited  were  miserable.  They  had  not  visited  a 
place  fit  for  a  dog  to  live  in.  Cold  print  could  not  convey 
any  idea  of  these  tottering  gray-haired  old  pioneers,  most  of 
them  suffering  from  some  complaint,  in  their  dirty  cheerless 
quarters.  Their  death  was  being  hastened  by  their  mode  of 
living.  Not  one  had  a  vegetable  in  the  place,  and  at  the 
then  price  of  meat  they  could  afford  but  little  of  it.  Most 
of  them  had  simply  bread  and  jam  and  tea  for  meals.  They 
were  not  able  to  look  after  themselves.  In  nearly  every 
instance  they  endured  these  hardships  solely  because  they 
could  have  a  drink  when  they  wanted  it.' 

Thus  and  in  cases  of  drink,  thriftlessness,  sponging  upon 
the  pensioner,  and  others  the  pension  was  really  outdoor 
relief  badly  administered.  What  was  practically  an  offer 
of  indoor  relief  had  to  take  its  place,  in  order  that  such 
scandals  might  be  avoided  ;  and  it  was  settled  by  the 
Amending  Act  that  the  police  magistrate  should  decide 
whether  a  claimant  otherwise  eligible  for  a  pension  was  or 
was  not  fit  to  be  entrusted  with  a  pension  ;  and  if  he  was 
not,  he  might  be  sent  to  a  benevolent  asylum.  This  suggests 
1  Argus,  May  28,  1901.  •  Argus,  June  3. 


230  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

that  a  speaker  in  the  New  South  Wales  Parliament  was  right 
when  he  said  that  the  Old-Age  Pension  was  '  simply  dressing 
up  the  Poor  Law  in  a  new  suit  of  clothes.' ' 

It  would  seem,  then,  that  in  Victoria  many  of  the  evils 
which  are  anticipated  in  the  case  of  the  Bills  for  Old-Age 
Pensions  in  England,  and  noted  in  other  papers  in  this 
volume,  have  actually  asserted  themselves.  Under  the  rather 
different  and,  for  the  time  being,  more  prosperous  economic 
conditions  prevailing  in  New  Zealand  and  New  South  Wales 
the  tendency  of  Old-Age  Pensions,  as  other  evidence  shows, 
must  be  similar. 

In  New  Zealand,  by  the  census  of  1896,  the  population 
over  sixty-five  years  of  age  numbered  20,756,  the  pensioners 
(1901)  12,405,  or  about  two-thirds,  or  60  per  cent.,  of  the 
population  of  that  age — a  condition  that  compares  very 
unfavourably  with  the  independence  of  people  of  the  same 
age  in  England,  where  the  corresponding  figure  is  19  per 
cent.  Each  year  the  number  of  pensioners  and  the  expendi- 
ture increases  considerably ;  the  original  estimate  of  the  cost 
was  £120,000.     The  actual  figures  were  as  follows  :— 


Pensioners 


Expenditure 


£ 

1899 7,897       128,718 

1900 11,285       193,718 

1901 12,405       211,965 


In  New  South  Wales,  by  the  census  of  1891,  the  population 
over  sixty-five  years  of  age  was  20,452  in  a  population  of 
1,132,234,2  ratherl  arger  than  that  of  Victoria.  In  the  first 
half-year  the  pensioners  numbered  22,692,  a  number  in 
excess  of  the  total  population  of   sixty-five  years  of  age  in 

1  Nowhere  have  Old-Age  Pensions  led  to  a  reduction  of  expenditure  on 
public  charities  subsidised  by  the  Government. 

2  In  1901—1,359,943. 


AUSTRALASIA  231 

the  year  1891,  but  including,  no  doubt,  persons  under  the 
age  of  sixty  who  had  taken  advantage  of  the  '  physical  un- 
fitness '  section  (§  10)  of  the  New  South  Wales  Act.  The 
expense  was  £526,700.  The  figures  indicate  a  largely  in- 
creasing dependence  and  social  difficulties  resultant  from 
the  Act  as  great,  possibly  greater,  than  those  which  have  come 
to  light  in  Victoria. 

With  them  and  their  results  we  may  compare  the  condi- 
tion of  the  aged  poor  in  England.  The  dependence  of  the 
aged  poor  upon  the  State  in  England  is  beyond  all  comparison 
less  than  it  is  in  the  Colonies  ;  and,  granted  the  main 
differences  of  Colonial  life,  their  social  condition  would 
appear  to  be  as  good.  Drink,  neglect  of  the  duties  of 
relationship,  and  the  spirit  of  pauperism  which  is  always 
ready  to  take  advantage  of  State  maintenance,  are  not  less 
there  than  here.  In  favour  of  the  English  administration 
there  is  a  greater  independence  of  the  people  at  times  of 
want  of  employment  and  a  greater  regard  for  family  duties. 

C.  S.  L. 


232  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 


XXII 
NEW  ZEALAND 

Last  November,  at  the  Robert  Browning  Hall,  Walworth, 
the  Agent-General  for  New  Zealand  gave  in  glowing  terms 
an  account  of  the  Old- Age  Pensions  Act,  of  the  passing  of 
which  news  had  just  arrived.  '  In  New  Zealand,'  he  said, 
'  they  had  learned  to  labour,  but  they  had  got  tired  of  waiting.' 
He  added  that  the  Act  just  passed  '  was  no  ideal  scheme  for 
providing  the  best  possible  pensions  for  old  people,  but  simply 
an  effort  to  guarantee  bare  justice  for  the  old  soldiers  in  the 
industrial  battle.'  After  giving  details  of  the  Act,  to  which 
we  will  advert  presently,  he  said  '  he  was  in  favour  of  thrift, 
but  not  of  unreasonable  thrift.  How  could  a  man  on  40s.  a 
week  bring  up  a  family  properly,  and  save  up  enough  to  pro- 
vide himself  with  an  01d-x\ge  Pension  ?  He  looked  upon  this 
thrift  argument  as  the  weakest  argument  ever  put  forward.' 
These  remarks,  which  were  greeted  with  cheers  by  the  audience, 
lay  open  the  state  of  opinion  and  principles  dominating  the 
party  in  New  Zealand  who  are  responsible  for  the  Act  passed 
last  year :  opinions  and  principles  which  it  is  somewhat 
difficult  for  old-fashioned  Englishmen  to  realise  as  actually 
made  the  basis  of  legislation  in  a  self-governing  community. 

But,  to  do  Mr.  Reeves  justice,  it  must  be  allowed  that, 
though  he  is  the  most  eloquent  expounder  of  these  views,  and 
the  party  to  which  he  belongs  has  gained  the  credit  of  putting 
them  into  the  form  of  law,  the  members  of  the  Opposition 
party  in  the  colony,  with  but  few  exceptions,  express  opinions 
not  essentially  different.     Captain  Russell,  the  official  leader 


NEW   ZEALAND  233 

of  the  Opposition,  Mr.  Scobie  Mackenzie,  and  other  prominent 
members,  while  denouncing  in  strong  language  details  in  the 
Old-Age  Pensions  Act  passed  last  year  by  the  Government, 
are  far  from  offering  resistance  to  the  principle  supposed  to 
underlie  it,  '  of  bare  justice  for  the  old  soldiers  in  the  industrial 
battle,'  to  use  Mr.  Eeeves's  words.  When  Opposition  members 
have  alluded  to  this  subject  in  their  addresses,  it  has  been 
often  rather  in  the  style  of  '  Codlin's  your  friend,  not  Short,' 
than  of  any  objection  to  the  idea  that  every  man  or  woman 
who  has  kept  out  of  prison  till  the  age  of  sixty-five  is  morally 
entitled  to  come  upon  the  taxpayers  for  support  for  the 
remaining  years  of  life. 

The  fact  is  that  Socialist  ideas  have  penetrated  deep  into 
the  whole  of  the  New  Zealand  population.  In  a  sense  this 
has  been  so  from  the  beginning.  In  the  early  days  of  the 
colony  political  power  was  in  the  hands  of  large  landowners 
who,  by  the  accidents  of  first  coming,  or  by  superior  skill  in 
choosing  sites,  became  lords  of  the  land  in  more  senses  than 
one.     As  Mr.  Eeeves  says  in  '  The  Long  White  Cloud  : ' — 

The  squatters  reigned  as  merry  monarchs,  reigning  as  supreme 
in  the  Provincial  Councils  as  in  the  jockey  clubs.  They  made  very 
wise  and  excessively  severe  laws  to  safeguard  their  stock  from 
infection,  and  other  laws,  by  no  means  so  wise,  to  safeguard  their 
runs  from  selection. 

The  wheel  of  fortune  has  turned  since  then,  and  lowered 
the  proud,  and  the  wealthy  squatters  of  old  time  are  replaced 
by  the  Trade  and  Labour  Councils  of  to-day.  It  is  not 
wonderful  that  the  leaders  of  these  should  imitate  their  prede- 
cessors in  passing  what  they  think  '  very  wise,'  and  what  other 
people  deem  '  very  severe,'  laws  to  safeguard  their  own  interests, 
whether  in  the  way  of  warding  off  present  competition  or 
future  destitution.  They  all  believe  that  law  is  the  chief 
instrument  of  national  welfare,  that  the  Government  is  the 
chief  promoter,  and  should  be  the  distributor,  of  national 
wealth. 

A  New  Zealander  grows  up,  for  instance,  with  the  idea 


234  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

that  it  is  the  business  of  the  State  to  provide  education  for 
himself  and  his  children  at  no  expense,  or  at  least  at  no 
apparent  expense,  to  himself.  So  much  is  this  the  case  that 
it  has  happened  that  a  well-to-do  settler,  having  removed  to 
a  new  location  too  far  away  from  a  public  (Anglice,  Board) 
school  for  his  children  to  attend  it,  has  applied  to  the 
District  Board  of  Education  for  assistance  to  pay  a  tutor  or 
governess  for  them.  In  the  particular  instance  which  came 
to  the  writer's  knowledge  the  application  was  rejected,  but 
not  ^  dissimilar  requests,  slightly  disguised,  might  achieve 
success  if  the  applicant  had  a  friend  on  the  Board ;  and  the 
fact  that  such  an  application  was  made  illustrates  vividly 
the  dependent  habit  of  mind  which  has  grown  up  in  the 
colony,  which  expects  not  only  education,  but  almost  every- 
thing, to  be  provided  out  of  public  money. 

For  many  years  past  the  problem  of  the  best  way  of 
relieving  poverty  has  exercised  the  minds  of  officials  and 
magistrates,  as  well  as  of  that  comparatively  small  portion  of 
the  general  public  that  looks  beyond  the  immediate  present. 
In  each  district  there  have  been  established  Charitable  Aid 
Boards  which  hold  weekly  meetings  and,  after  the  manner  of 
Boards  of  Guardians  in  England,  investigate  the  claims  of 
distressed  persons.  There  ought  to  have  been  no  necessity 
for  such  institutions  in  a  country  like  New  Zealand,  where  no 
able-bodied  man  or  woman  need  starve,  and  where  private 
kindly  help  has  always  been  readily  given  to  sick  or  helpless 
poor.  But  there  is  a  great  deal  of  human  nature  in  most 
men,  and,  the  provision  being  made  for  relief,  there  were 
plenty  of  men  who  were  quite  able  to  persuade  themselves 
that  they  were  entitled  to  it.  A  couple  of  years  ago  a  petition 
was  circulated  among  the  County  Councils  of  the  North 
Island,  and  was  adopted  by  several,  the  first  clause  of  which 
asserted — '  That  the  demand  for  charitable  aid  throughout  the 
colony  is  increasing  year  by  year.'  The  object  of  the  petition 
was  that  the  revenue  required  for  charitable  aid  should  be  all 
made  a  charge  on  the  consolidated  funds  of  the  colony,  the 


NEW   ZEALAND  235 

existing  system,  of  raising  about  half  of  it  by  a  local  rate, 
being  alleged  to  press  very  heavily  on  those  who  lived  by  the 
land.  The  statement  that  the  amount  required  was  in- 
creasing was  incontrovertible.  More  than  one  magistrate,  in 
different  parts  of  the  colony,  had  commented  on  the  fact, 
and  had  pointed  out  the  serious  consequences  which  shortly 
must  arise  from  the  strain  on  local  taxation  as  well  as  on  the 
national  revenue. 

It  must  be  remembered  by  the  English  reader  that 
politics  in  New  Zealand  is  a  paid  profession.  The  income 
of  £240  per  annum  enjoyed  by  a  member  of  the  House 
of  Representatives  is  not  bad  pay  for  a  working  man, 
especially  for  one  whose  abilities  run  rather  to  words  than 
to  works.  Without  asserting  that  M.H.R.'s  are  worse 
than  other  men  the  inducement  to  adopt  a  course  which, 
by  doing  something  for  the  advantage  of  their  constituents, 
will  also  help  to  keep  them  their  positions  in  the  House 
is  very  great.  As  has  been  very  truly  remarked,  '  Party 
governs  everything  in  a  way  quite  incomprehensible  to 
English  minds.'  When  the  '  caucus '  has  decreed  that 
some  scheme  shall  be  taken  up,  the  fear  of  losing  their 
'  billets '  operates  as  a  fatal  check  to  any  independent 
criticism  on  the  part  of  members  of  the  party  in  power. 
Moreover,  in  order  to  keep  the  party  in  power  it  is  neces- 
sary to  appeal  to  the  interests  of  the  most  numerous  or 
most  noisy  portion  of  the  voters.  The  receipt  of  charitable 
aid  is  not  a  bar  to  the  exercise  of  a  vote  in  the  colony,  and 
no  party,  unless  under  the  stress  of  very  bad  times  which 
should  rouse  the  dormant  well-to-do  classes  from  their 
wonted  political  inaction,  would  dare  to  risk  the  loss  of  the 
votes  of  the  '  unemployed  '  by  seriously  attacking  the 
principle,  or  reducing  the  amount,  of  charitable  aid. 

Political  and  party  needs  made  some  new  move  essential, 
if  the  present  '  continuous  '  Ministry  were  to  hope  to  survive 
the  general  election  at  the  close  of  this  year.  Two  years  ago 
a  Bill  was  introduced  for  providing  Old- Age  Pensions,  was 


236  OLD-AGE  PENSIONS 

discussed  and  amended  in  the  House  of  representatives,  and 
finally  thrown  out  by  the  Council.  At  the  opening  of  the 
session  of  1898,  in  the  Governor's  speech,  the  two  Houses  were 
informed  :  '  You  will  again  be  asked  to  devote  your  attention 
to  that  most  complicated  social  problem,  the  provision  under 
certain  conditions  of  a  pension  for  the  deserving  among  our 
aged  colonists.  A  Bill  to  make  such  provision  will  be  sub- 
mitted for  your  earnest  and  careful  attention.' 

In  introducing  the  Bill,  the  Premier,  Mr.  Seddon,  stated 
that  he  calculated  that  there  were  5,000  persons  in  the 
colony  entitled  to  a  pension  under  its  provisions,  and  that 
there  would  be  500  fresh  claims  annually.  The  Bill  proposed 
that  persons  possessing  less  than  £270  and  who  had  lived  in 
the  colony  for  not  less  than  twenty  years  with  a  good 
character,  should,  on  reaching  the  age  of  sixty-five,  receive  a 
maximum  pension  of  £18  a  year.  There  was  prolonged  dis- 
cussion on  the  different  stages  of  the  Bill.  The  Opposition 
were  charged  with  unfair  obstruction  for  party  purposes,  a 
charge  repudiated  with  indignation  and  with  loud  complaints 
of  the  unworkable  and  crude  character  of  the  measure.  With 
several  amendments  it  passed  the  Lower  House,  was  read  a 
second  time  in  the  Council  on  October  21,  and  passed 
through  Committee  and  read  a  third  time  on  October  24. 
It  may  be  noticed  that  independent  criticism  of  the  measure 
by  the  Legislative  Council  was  prevented  by  the  ruling  of  the 
Speaker,  a  Government  appointed  official,  that,  being  a 
money  Bill,  the  Council  might  reject  but  could  not  amend  it. 

It  will  be  seen  at  once  that  the  Act  does  not  recognise  or 
encourage  thrift  as  furnishing  any  claim  to  a  pension.  As 
far  as  it  exerts  an  influence  at  all,  it  distinctly  discourages 
thrift.  The  possession  of  a  sum  of  £270,  or  of  an  annual 
income  of  £52,  wholly  disqualifies  an  applicant,  while  the 
possession  of  more  than  £50  reduces  the  annuity  allowed  by 
£1  for  each  £15  in  the  excess  over  £50.  Thus,  in  the 
newspaper  reports  of  the  grants  of  pensions,  the  amounts 
awarded    vary    from    the    full    £18    to    £13,   or    £10,   or 


NEW   ZEALAND  237 

less,  the  smaller  amounts  going  to  those  who,  by  thrift 
or  otherwise,  have  saved  a  little  money.  In  fact,  the  Act 
makes  it  clearly  to  the  advantage  of  a  poor  man,  as  he  nears 
the  age  of  sixty -five,  to  spend  all  he  has  saved. 

During  the  early  part  of  the  present  year  Mr.  Seddon 
made  a  tour  of  the  colony,  receiving  everywhere  congratulations 
on  his  successful  effort  to  make  provision  for  the  comfort  of 
deserving  colonists  in  the  period  of  Nature's  decline.  He 
replied  with  boasts  that,  in  this  matter,  New  Zealand  was  in 
the  van  of  progress,  and  that  her  example  would  be  followed 
by  foreign  countries  as  soon  as  the  Act  was  proved  to  be 
working  satisfactorily. 

The  papers  which  support  the  Government  have  adopted 
a  similar  tone.  The  Auckland  Evening  Star  said :  '  The  Act 
is  necessarily  experimental,  but  it  makes  an  honest  attempt 
to  deal  in  a  spirit  of  enlightened  and  benevolent  statesman- 
ship with  the  problem  of  the  aged  poor.  The  financial  burden 
laid  upon  the  country  will  not  be  a  serious  one,  and  the 
experience  gained  during  the  three  years  for  which  the  Bill 
makes  provision  will  prove  most  valuable  in  dealing  with  one 
of  the  most  difficult  problems  of  the  age.' 

One  point  has  been  made  clear  by  the  experience  of  the 
few  months  during  which  the  Act  has  already  been  at  work  : 
its  cost  to  the  colony  was  very  much  under-estimated.  A  sum 
of  £100,000  was  put  on  the  estimates  as  amply  sufficient  to 
cover  the  cost  of  the  first  year.  That  this  will  be  largely 
exceeded  is  now  certain,  by  how  much  no  one  knows.  The 
Premier  stated  in  a  speech  at  Eketahuna  on  May  12,  that  the 
pensions  granted  up  to  March  31  amounted  to  £128,273, 
and  that  during  the  month  of  April  about  400  more  pensions 
had  been  awarded.  A  moderate  estimate  is  that  the  charge 
for  the  first  year  will  be  £150,000  at  least.  In  proportion  to 
population  this  is  equivalent  to  an  annual  expenditure  of  six 
or  seven  millions  sterling  for  Great  Britain.  The  Auckland 
Evening  Star,  a  uniform,  not  to  say  vehement,  supporter  of 
the  Government,  said  on  June  8:  'We  agree   with  Captain 


238  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

Russell '  (the  leader  of  the  Opposition)  '  that  the  scheme  must 
be  put  on  a  better  financial  basis.' 

Pecuniarily,  so  far,  the  Act  can  thus  hardly  claim  to  be  a 
brilliant  success.  The  only  other  point  in  which  Englishmen 
will  be  very  interested  is  the  question  whether  it  provides 
relief  in  old  age  in  a  better  way  for  the  more  deserving  people 
than  does  the  ordinary  system  of  poor  relief.  To  this  it  may 
be  replied  that,  apparently,  so  far,  it  has  been  precisely  the 
same  class  of  people  who  used  to  appear  weekly  before  the 
Charitable  Aid  Boards  who  now  apply  to  the  stipendiary 
magistrates  for  Old-Age  Pensions. 

Every  applicant  for  such  a  pension  has  to  obtain  a  proper 
form  from  a  local  officer.  On  this  he,  or  she,  for  there  is  no 
distinction  of  sex,  has  to  set  forth  age,  length  of  residence  in 
the  colony  (the  requisite  time  was  finally  fixed  at  twenty-five 
years),  that  for  the  past  twelve  years  he  or  she  has  not  served  a 
term  of  imprisonment,  and  has  not  deserted  wife  or  husband,  &c. 
&c,  and  has  also  to  give  all  particulars  of  income  enjoyed,  or 
property  possessed.  When  this  has  been  duly  signed  and 
delivered,  the  applicant  has  to  appear  before  a  stipendiary 
magistrate  (Anglice,  county-court  judge)  and  be  examined  in 
public  as  to  the  truth  of  the  statements  made. 

That  the  cross-examination  made  under  these  circumstances 
is  not  a  pleasant  ordeal  to  self-respecting  poor  is  illustrated  by 
an  incidental  paragraph  in  an  Auckland  paper,  which  mentions 
one  stipendiary  magistrate  with  commendation  as  having 
saved  the  colony  a  considerable  sum  by  exposing  fraudulent 
claims.  That  in  spite  of  such  care  many  unworthy  persons 
succeed  in  getting  pensions  is  shown  by  many  casual  news 
items.  For  instance,  in  the  Otago  Daily  Times  of  May  4,  in 
the  report  of  the  regular  weekly  meeting  of  the  Benevolent 
Trust  at  Dunedin,  it  is  stated  :  '  The  Chairman  referred  to  the 
case  of  a  man  who,  having  received  his  Old-Age  Pension  on  the 
1st  of  the  month,  left  the  institution,  got  drunk,  was  dread- 
fully knocked  about,  locked  up,  and  fined  fifteen  shillings. 
The  man  had  returned  to  the  institution  very  penitent,  resigned 


NEW   ZEALAND  239 

his  right  to  the  pension  to  the  trustees,  and  gone  back  to  his 
ward.' 

That  this  is  no  isolated  case  is  tolerably  certain.  The 
New  Zealand  pension  scheme  is  a  method  of  making  the  well- 
to-do  and  thrifty  support  the  unthrifty  in  their  old  age,  while 
retaining  less  control  over  their  behaviour  than  was  afforded 
by  the  system  of  Charitable  Aid  Boards.  The  continual  bor- 
rowing of  the  Seddon  Government  disguises  for  the  present 
the  weight  of  the  burden  put  on  the  community,  only  to  make 
it  more  crushing  when  some  financial  crisis  puts  a  stop  to  the 
possibility  of  further  loans.  It  may  safely  be  asserted  that 
the  proof  of  success  of  the  New  Zealand  Old-Age  Pensions  Act 
is  very  far  from  being  clear  enough  to  realise  its  author's  hope 
that  it  would  lead  foreign  nations  to  copy  it. 

W.  Steadman  Aldis. 


240  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 


XXIII 
NEW  ZEALAND 

Old-Age  Pensions  in  New  Zealand  are  frequently  cited  as  a 
precedent  for  Old-Age  Pensions  in  the  United  Kingdom.  It 
is  therefore  of  some  importance  to  watch  their  operation  in 
that  country. 

The  population  of  New  Zealand  is  770,682,  the  revenue 
£6,514,049.  The  Old-Age  Pension  Bill  became  law  in  1898. 
The  main  provisions  of  that  law  are  that  every  '  deserving ' 
person  who  is  properly  qualified  as  to  residence,  who  has  not 
more  than  £52  a  year  or  a  certain  capital,  and  who  is  over  the 
age  of  sixty-five,  shall  be  entitled  to  a  pension  of  not  more 
than  £18  a  year,  or  6s.  lid.  a  week. 

To  be  '  deserving '  under  the  Act  a  man  must  not  have 
been  imprisoned  for  more  than  five  years  after  the  age  of  forty, 
or  after  the  age  of  fifty-three  '  for  four  months,  or  on  four 
occasions,  for  any  offence  punishable  by  imprisonment  for 
twelve  months  or  upwards,  and  dishonouring  him  in  the  public 
estimation.'  Between  sixty  and  sixty-five,  but  not  before,  he 
must  have  been  sober  and  respectable. 

Anyone  who  has  more  than  £34,  but  less  than  £52,  per 
annum  is  entitled  to  have  his  income  made  up  to  the  latter 
figure  by  a  proportionate  amount  of  the  pension. 

In  introducing  the  Bill  Mr.  Seddon  stated  that  they  in 
New  Zealand  proposed  to  undertake  the  solution  of  a  problem 
'  which  has  puzzled  the  leading  minds  of  the  age.'  It  is 
interesting  to  see,  after  four  years,  how  far  they  have 
succeeded. 


NEW   ZEALAND  241 

His  estimate  of  the  maximum  sum  required  for  Old- Age 
Pensions  was  £90,000.  For  the  year  ending  March  31,  1901, 
the  actual  amount  required  was  £211,965.  Ihere  were  at 
that  time  12,485  pensions,  of  which  10,356  were  for  the  full 
amount  of  £18.  Nine  pensioners  apparently  had  exactly  £51 
a  year,  and  claimed  a  pension  of  £1.  The  pension  authority 
is  the  magistrate  of  the  district,  who  has  to  hear  and  decide 
upon  all  claims. 

An  interesting  account  by  an  eye-witness  of  the  operation 
of  the  Act  is  given  by  Mr.  Henry  Demarest  Lloyd,  who  is  an 
enthusiastic  admirer  of  it,  and  who  writes  as  '  A  Democratic 
Traveller  in  New  Zealand.'  { 

He  says  in  his  opening  chapter  :  — 

I  went  to  New  Zealand  to  see  what  had  been  done  for  a  higher 
social  life  by  the  methods  of  politics  in  the  country  in  which  those 
methods  had  been  given  the  best  trial. 

He  had  the  opportunity  of  attending  the  Courts  in  several 
districts  where  the  claims  were  heard.  He  points  out  that, 
though  the  law  gives  general  satisfaction,  yet  the  progressive 
party  still  insist  that  pensions  shall  be  made  universal  in  order 
to  avoid  any  suspicion  of  charity. 

He  begins  by  saying  that  in  New  Zealand  the  word 
'  deserving '  is  interpreted  much  more  liberally  than  it  is  in 
Denmark.  '  New  Zealand  forgives  the  sins  of  the  thriftless, 
the  vicious,  and  even  the  crimirial.' 

He  quotes  with  approbation  the  words  of  the  Hon.  J. 
Ward,  who  says  : — 

Those  who  fall  may  mend  ;  fortunately  the  great  mass  of  the 
people  possess  the  spirit  of  forgiveness. 

He  continues  : — 

One  may  become  a  pensioner  who  has  been  drunk  and  disreput- 
able, provided  that  these  eccentricities  of  character  have  not  been 

1  Neivest  England  :  Notes  of  a  Democratic  Traveller  iiiNeiv  Zealand. 
By  Henry  Demarest  Lloyd.      Doubleday,  Page,  &  Co.,  New  York.     1900. 

R 


242  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

in  evidence  for  five  years.  One  may  have  been  in  prison  for  five 
years  for  a  dishonourable  crime  and  still  be  eligible  if  the  imprison- 
ment was  twenty-five  years  before.  He  may  have  been  imprisoned 
four  months  four  times  for  offences  punishable  by  twelve  months' 
imprisonment,  and  still  be  eligible  for  a  pension  if  his  incarceration 
is  twelve  months  past. 

To  be  poor  in  New  Zealand  is  evidently  the  largest  part  of  the 
qualification  of '  deserving.' 

Pensions  are  awarded  for  one  year  only.  This  keeps  away  some 
of  the  more  sensitive,  who  object  to  the  questions  asked  upon 
revision. 

The  following  are  extracts  from  his  description  of  the  scene 
in  court  when  the  claims  are  heard  :— 

A  pathetic  crowd  of  men  and  women — flotsam  and  jetsam  of 
workaday  life.  Some  were  from  the  benevolent  homes  which  are 
maintained  by  the  Colony  for  the  relief  of  its  aged  poor.  These  are 
not  barred. 

The  examinations  proceeded  rapidly,  from  two  to  four  minutes 
being  taken  up  with  each  case.  [The  magistrates  have  to  catch 
trains  or  trams  (v.  infra).] 

John  Smith  was  an  old  soldier.  .  .  .  The  judge  looked  at  his 
certificate  of  character.  '  You  have,'  he  said  benignantly, '  a  very  good 
character  indeed.'  The  old  man's  lips  trembled  and  his  eyes  filled 
with  tears. 

Where  the  applicants  were  inmates  of  '  charitable  homes '  a 
novel  difficulty  arose.  In  one  home  the  inmates  who  received 
pensions  took  up  the  position  that  they  were  not  paupers,  since 
they  paid  for  their  keep,  and  therefore  they  struck  against  the 
regulation  requiring  them  to  work. 

In  another,  some  of  the  inmates  had  transferred  their  real  estate 
to  the  Charitable  Aid  Board.  When  subsequently  they  were 
granted  pensions  they  asked  the  Board  to  return  them  the  deeds  of 
their  property. 

Laughable  and  affecting  lapses  of  memory  in  some  of  the  old 
people  were  not  uncommon.  One  could  not  remember  when  he  had 
registered  the  birth  of  his  last  child.  The  dates  of  marriages  were 
often  forgotten. 

An  old  lady,  trimly  dressed,  with  red  cheeks  and  bright  eyes.  .  . 


NEW   ZEALAND  243 

kissed  the  book.  The  judge,  always  kind  in  his  interrogation  of 
these  people,  was  more  so  than  usual  to  this  old  lady,  so  prepos- 
sessing in  every  aspect. 

'  I  am  obliged  to  ask  you,'  he  said,  '  the  law  compels  me  to  do  so 
— if  you  have  ever  been  in  prison  ?  I  anticipate  your  answer,'  he 
said  encouragingly. 

One  of  the  old  men,  when  asked  the  same  question,  replied  in 
an  ostentatiously  loud  voice, ''Yes,  for  thieving.'  Thereupon  the 
officer  from  the  home  explained  how  this  old  fellow  had  walked  off 
in  the  clothes  supplied  by  the  institution  and  had  been  brought 
back  and  gaoled  as  an  example  to  others.  He  was  allowed  the  full 
pension. 

Only  once  did  I  see  anyone  looking  really  disreputable.  '  I 
shall  have  to  search  the  criminal  records,'  said  the  judge  ;  and  the 
Court  officials  went  to  look  them  up.  They  soon  returned  with  a 
formidable  list  of  convictions.  The  application  was  summarily 
rejected.  '  That,'  said  he,  referring  to  the  list  of  convictions,  'was 
an  impediment,  I  know,  but  as  an  old  Colonist  I  thought  I  might  as 
well  make  the  application.' 

The  proceedings  were  quite  informal,  and  there  was  no  touch  of 
sternness  to  confuse  the  poor  creatures. 

The  age  of  some  of  them  was  extraordinary.  One  old  man -of  - 
wars-man  was  ninety-six  ;  a  dame  appeared  with  documentary 
evidence  to  prove  that  she  was  110.  Sometimes,  when  there  was 
no  other  proof,  the  judge  said  '  they  looked  it.'  A  full  pension  was 
granted  to  a  man  of  102. 

A  widow  stated  her  age  as  sixty-seven,  but  according  to  her 
marriage  certificate  she  was  only  sixy-four.  The  Court  informed  her 
that  she  could  not  be  sixty-four  to  be  married  and  sixty-seven  to  be 
pensioned  at  one  and  the  same  time. 

In  another  case  the  quick  eye  of  the  judge  detected  an  alteration 
in  the  figures  of  a  birth  certificate  .  .  .  the  lady  lost  her  annuity. 

The  inquiries  as  to  property,  income,  money  in  the  savings 
bank  were  always  thoroughly  made.1  Many  had  incomes  and 
owned  property  and  received  pensions  of  larger  or  smaller  amount. 

Some  of  the  answers  were  : — 

'  I  had  some  property  a  few  years  ago.' 

1  This  statement  is  hardly  consistent  with  Mr.  Seddon's  speech  of 
September  1901,  quoted  below. 


244  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

'  I  never  had  any  property  to  give  away  to  get  the  pension.' 

'  No  income  at  all.' 

The  only  property  that  most  of  them  had  was  their  character.1 
This,  if  vouched  for  hy  some  responsible  citizen,  earned  them  an 
income  from  the  State. 

Applicants  for  pensions  with  Post-Office  Savings  Bank  books, 
income-tax  returns,  mortgages  to  pay,  and  insurance  policies  are 
certainly  a  novelty. 

'  You  are  not  entitled  to  a  pension,'  the  judge  said  to  one  appli- 
cant.    '  Your  income  last  year  was  over  £1  a  week.' 

'  Thank  you,  Sir,'  the  man  said  as  he  stepped  down.  '  It  shall 
not  occur  again.' 

That  they  had  relatives  able  to  support  them  did  not  debar  people 
otherwise  qualified  from  the  receipt  of  the  pension. 

But  the  Courts  can  and  do  compel  them  to  contribute  sometimes. 

A  woman  who  had  received  a  pension  of  7s.  a  week  continued, 
by  the  order  of  the  Court,  to  receive  6d.  a  week  from  each  of  her 
sons. 

In  Christchurch  I  saw  the  case  of  a  woman  whose  husband  was 
earning  £78  a  year.  By  the  law,  in  considering  the  application  for 
a  pension  for  a  wife,  the  income  of  a  husband  is  halved.  The 
income  of  each  of  this  couple  was  considered  therefore  to  be  £39  a 
year.  In  order  to  make  it  up  to  ±'52  they  were  each  entitled  to  a 
pension  of  £13,  i.e.  £104  for  the  two.  '  A  nice  little  income,  truly,' 
said  the  judge. 

A  man,  who  admitted  that  he  had  drawn  all  but  £50  of  his 
money  out  of  the  savings  bank  and  gave  it  away,  '  as  he  thought 
that  he  had  too  much  money,'  was  rejected. 

One  of  the  newspaper  humorists  of  New  Zealand  explained  the 
omission  of  a  contemporary  to  publish  the  names  of  old-age 
pensioners  in  the  district  on  the  ground  that  the  editor  was  probably 
a  pensioner  himself. 

Maoris  are  eligible  for  pensions.  The  number  of  Maori 
pensioners  is  one  in  forty.  The  Maoris  are  getting  proportion- 
ately much  the  largest  share  of  the  pensions,  and  there  is  to  be  an 
investigation. 

The  policy  of  giving  pensions  to  the  Maoris  is  severely  con- 
demned by  some.     It  is  pointed  out  that  a  sum  of  30s.  a  month 

1  Subject  presumably  to  the  time  limit  of  five  years. 


NEW   ZEALAND  245 

is  a  small  fortune  to  old  natives.  Moreover,  very  little  or  none  of 
it  remains  with  the  recipient,  as  the  younger  natives  only  allow 
him  the  privilege  of  collecting  it. 

In  going  from  Kurow  to  Mount  Cook  by  stage,  we  passed  some 
'  cob '  huts  made  of  mud  and  straw,  squatting  close  to  the  river. 
'  Some  of  the  old-age  pensioners  live  there,'  said  our  driver.  '  They 
live  in  their  huts  on  the  public  reserves  along  the  river  bank,  where 
no  one  can  evict  them.  They  get  305.  a  month,  and  have  no  rent 
to  pay.  They  still  do  a  little  gold-washing  and  can  keep  alive, 
and  they  know  that  if  they  are  ever  found  drunk  they  will  lose 
their  pension.' 

There  was  a  great  meeting  at  the  Opera  House  in  Christchurch 
during  my  visit,  to  give  the  thanks  of  the  old-age  pensioners  of 
Canterbury  to  the  Premier.  An  address  was  presented,  trusting 
that  he  might  be  spared  to  enjoy  the  glory  of  a  ripe  old  age  and  to 
introduce  other  beneficial  social  reforms. 

In  July  1901  Mr.  Bullen  asked  whether  Mr.  Seddon  pro- 
posed to  include  those  disabled  by  accident  amongst  those 
qualified  for  a  pension. 

Proposals  are  on  foot  to  leave  out  of  consideration,  in 
adjudging  the  amount  of  pension,  any  existing  pensions  in 
respect  of  military  service. 

In  the  debate  upon  the  Financial  Statement  in  the  present 
Session,  one  member  of  Parliament  (Mr.  Ell)  welcomed  the 
increase  in  the  amount  of  the  pensions  over  the  original 
estimate,  upon  the  ground  that  it  increased  the  spending 
power  of  the  pensioners,  and  that  the  money  was  all  spent  in 
the  country. 

The  same  member  also  called  attention  in  the  House, 
upon  another  occasion,  to  the  fact  that  the  charges  of 
drunkenness  had  increased  by  1,010  over  the  previous  year, 
and  amounted  to  a  total  of  7,299.  The  increase  in  the 
previous  year  had  been  757. 

In  September  1901,  Mr.  Seddon  introduced  an  amending 
Act.  The  main  provisions  of  this  Act  are  that  the  Eegistrar 
should  be  represented  in  the  Court  of  Claims  and  have  power 
to   inquire   whether   applicants   have  a  savings  bank   book, 


•246  OLD-AGE   PENSIONS 

&c.  Inquiry  shall  also  be  made  as  to  whether  pensioners 
have  transferred  any  property  to  their  children  or  others  in 
order  to  qualify  for  the  pension.  Certain  penalties  are  also 
enacted  for  making  false  statements.  In  the  Act  as  first 
introduced  it  was  proposed  to  make  inquiry  into  the  circum- 
stances of  the  children  of  pensioners,  but  this  was  afterwards 
dropped. 

In  introducing  it,  Mr.  Seddon  pointed  out  that  '  circum- 
stances have  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  Government  which 
require  such  an  amending  Act  .  .  .  that  magistrates  do  their 
best,  but  that  their  time  is  limited  owing  to  their  having  to 
catch  trains  and  trams  .  .  .  and  that  when  you  have  a  whole- 
sale undervaluing  of  property  it  shakes  confidence  in  the 
whole  structure.  He  cites  cases  of  fraud  both  by  Maoris  and 
Europeans.  One  pensioner  on  the  East  Coast  was  found  to 
have  £600  in  the  bank  ;  another  on  the  West  Coast  £500.' 

'Magistrates,'  he  adds,  'do  not  think  this  fraud  is  wide- 
spread, but  opinions  of  M.P.s  and  the  outside  public  differ 
from  magistrates.' 

With  regard  to  Maoris,  he  says  that  in  one  instance  the 
magistrate  depends,  for  the  age  of  all  other  Maoris,  upon  one 
old  Maori.  In  most  cases  the  answer  given  is :  '  Oh,  yes  !  he 
was  twenty  years  old  when  Te  Kooti  was  here.  He  is  old 
enough.'  After  the  death  of  that  old  Maori,  recourse  was  had 
to  a  Maori  clergyman  of  thirty-five  to  forty,  who  had  to  vouch 
for  the  ages  of  people  born  twenty  years  before  himself. 

One  of  the  results  has  been  that  a  class  of  Maori  inter- 
preters has  sprung  up,  who  go  round  the  districts  hunting  up 
old  Maoris  qualifiable  for  a  pension,  and  who  charge  £3  a 
head  commission. 

He  cites  various  cases  in  which  old  people  have  transferred 
their  property  to  their  children,  got  their  pension,  and  then 
gone  to  live  with  them.  In  one  case  '  the  old  couple  now  drive 
in  a  pony-chaise  to  draw  their  pension.' 

In  suggesting — a  suggestion  afterwards  dropped — that  the 
pension  authority  should  make  some  inquiry  into  the  circum- 


NEW   ZEALAND  247 

stances  of  children  of  applicants,  Mr.  Seel  don  is  very  apologetic. 
He  says,  '  We  are  not  going  so  far  as  they  do  in  Victoria — not 
that  length  ;  but  I  really  do  think  in  several  cases  brought 
before  Government,  where  children  were  wealthy  or  well-to-do, 
that  they  had  forgotten  their  filial  obligations.' 

In  the  same  debate  one  member  urged  that  £18  a  year 
was  quite  insufficient ;  another,  that  pensions  should  be  made 
universal.  There  is  evidently  no  finality  in  the  present 
scheme. 

Another  argument  used  in  New  Zealand  in  favour  of  Old- 
Age  Pensions  is  that  if  a  man  has  spent  his  money  in  beer 
and  tobacco,  where  has  it  gone  ?  Why,  into  the  Treasury,  of 
course.  He  is  therefore  entitled  to  have  it  refunded  in  the 
shape  of  an  Old-Age  Pension. 

It  is  perhaps  rather  significant  that,  according  to  Mr. 
Lloyd,  when  in  1897  M.P.s  were  canvassed  as  to  their 
opinions  upon  the  question  they  almost  all  declared  them- 
selves in  favour  of  it;  Conservative  M.P.s  adding,  'if  any 
way  can  be  devised  of  making  it  practicable.'  We  have  often 
heard  similar  declarations  in  England. 

Mr.  Seddon  repeats  the  well-known  contention  that  Old- 
Age  Pensions  will  promote  thrift.  The  method  of  reasoning, 
according  to  him,  would  be :  '  If  I  can  keep  on  till  sixty-five,  I 
shall  have  an  Old-Age  Pension,  and  so  sobriety  and  virtue  are 
encouraged.' 

Mr.  Lloyd  is  perhaps  more  candid.  He  says  '  it  is  given 
as  a  right,  as  a  step  towards  the  equalisation  of  property.' 

Mr.  Seddon,  says  Mr.  Lloyd,  looks  forward  to  the  future 
increase  with  equanimity.  '  If  hereafter  the  burden  exceeds 
our  resources,  we  will  tax  land  and  income  more  and  more,  as 
I  have  already  intimated.' 

W.  A.  B. 


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